The Woman Next Door: A Novel

"Ever had a “hate-ship”? That’s how author Yewande Omotoso <a href https://www.npr.org/2017/02/12/514495267/next-door-neighbors-gradually-learn-to-get-along-in-post-apartheid-cape-town" target="_blank" >characterizes the relationship between Hortensia and Marion, the neighbors in her novel, The Woman Next Door. Hortensia, who’s black, and Marion, who’s white (and racist), live in an affluent part of Cape Town, South Africa. They have a lot in common: Both women were creative professionals with their own businesses, and both are widows. But they’re enemies until Hortensia breaks her leg in an accident that also leaves Marion temporarily homeless. Hortensia invites Marion in, and slowly their relationship begins to thaw. There’s no tidy Golden Girls ending , but you do have a sense that these two women will continue to talk and, bit by bit, bridge their ideological divide."