This Animal Family

Oswald Guthrie’s life of gentle retirement is turned upside down when his wife suffers a traumatic brain injury in a car accident. She sinks from coma into persistent vegetative state, leaving Guthrie to deal with the consequences. To ease his finances, Guthrie takes in two lodgers: Abi, 23, a middle-class young woman, estranged from her family and wounded by a destructive relationship; and Garai, 17, forced to flee Zimbabwe due to his political activism, and traumatised by his friend’s murder at the hands of the security services. Each of the characters begins their journey in crisis. They all have secrets that they would rather not share. Guthrie, whose views of race and gender are deeply embedded, finds himself questioning some home truths. Abi, wounded by love, must learn to trust again. And Garai, his existence in Britain precarious, must risk it all for a secure future. As the three individuals come together as a household, a new kind of bond emerges, and a family is formed, one that is peculiar and unique. This Animal Family is a story of awakenings. It is MZ Pevsner’s fourteenth novel.