Abigail Dean, The Death of Us

Join Abigail Dean, Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author of Girl A, as she discusses her new book, The Death of Us. Inspired by a long-held nightmare of home invasions – and a long-held dream to write a love story – it is a heart-wrenching new novel about love, tragedy and forgiveness.

This event will include an audience Q&A and after the event there will be an opportunity to get your book signed by the author.

Wednesday 4th June, 7.00pm

Venue: Shenfield Library, Hutton Road, Shenfield, CM15 8JD

Tickets: £10 / £8 concessions (Students, Under 27s and Unwaged)

Box Office: essexbookfestival.org.uk or Mercury Theatre 01206 573948

The Death of Us by Abigail Dean

‘Beautifully crafted, taut, elegant and heartbreaking’ – Monica Ali

It’s the story everyone wants to hear.

That spring night in South London, when Isabel and Edward’s lives were torn apart.

The night Isabel learned that the worst things wait, just outside the door.

The night Edward learned that he was powerless to stop them.

The night they never talk about.

When their attacker is caught, it’s finally time to tell the story of that night. Not to the world. Or to the man who did it. But to each other.

This is a story of murder. This is a story of survival.

But most of all, this is a story of love.

Order a copy of The Death of Us by Abigail Dean from the Essex Book Festival bookshop at bookshop.org

Abigail Dean

Abigail Dean was born in Manchester and now lives in South London with her husband and two children. Abigail has worked as a Waterstones bookseller and a lawyer. Her debut novel, Girl A, was a New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller, and a television series is being adapted with Sony.

The Death of Us is Abigail’s third novel. It is inspired by a long-held nightmare of home invasions – and a long-held dream to write a love story. Film rights have been acquired at auction.

Dear Reader

The Death of Us is a love story – based, in part, on my own.

I moved to London in my mid-twenties with my boyfriend at the time. (He’s my husband now; I haven’t got rid of him yet.) Life seemed full of certainties and pleasures. I was sure we would grow old together. We were surrounded by friends. We had decent jobs that paid the rent. We wandered parks, fell out of dingy nightclubs, and recovered with late Sunday lunches. I grew up in a small village, and it seemed impossible that life could be so vast and busy and bright.

But thriller writers are always looking for the worm in the apple. What would it take for us to lose that easy joy? What’s the worst thing that could happen, and would we survive it?

I had long been haunted by the acts of the Golden State Killer and the way he undermined notions of masculine security by targeting heterosexual couples. And I came to believe this was the worst thing:

It is nighttime. You are asleep in your bedroom with your partner at your side. The lights flick on. There is a stranger in your house. He has been watching you for several months. He has eaten from your fridge and toyed with your belongings. And now, he makes himself known.

Last year, when it came time to write my third novel – much older, and a little less sure of things – this was the story I returned to. What would happen to a couple who survived that kind of event? Would it bond them together forever? Or would trauma blast them apart? Edward and Isabel meet when they are nineteen. They are thirty when their marital home is invaded by a man who goes on to become an infamous serial killer. In their mid-fifties, they reunite for his sentencing – and revisit the truth of what happened that night. Along the way, we follow their decades-long love story. They are petty and jealous, funny and affectionate. They are each other’s greatest cheerleaders and fiercest critics. I adore them, and I hope you will too.

As a final note, I want to let you know that this novel contains scenes of sexual assault. There are times when this is something I can read about, and times when I can’t. If it isn’t that time for you, I encourage you to set this aside,
and read any other of those magnificent books on your pile.

Thank you, as ever, for being a reader.
Love Abigail