Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty (Review)

Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty

Blurb

Yvonne Carmichael has worked hard to achieve the life she always wanted: a high-flying career in genetics, a beautiful home, a good relationship with her husband and their two grown-up children.

Then one day she meets a stranger at the Houses of Parliament and, on impulse, begins a passionate affair with him – a decision that will put everything she values at risk.

At first she believes she can keep the relationship separate from the rest of her life, but she can’t control what happens next. All of her careful plans spiral into greater deceit and, eventually, a life-changing act of violence.

Apple Tree Yard is a psychological thriller about one woman’s adultery and an insightful examination of the values we live by and the choices we make, from an acclaimed writer at the height of her powers.

Review

This is another book that has been sat upstairs on an untouched bookshelf for about seven years. This was another book that I bought because of the all the hype at the time that surrounded it. 

I will be honest this is probably the worst book I have read in 2024 so far as I just really did not get along with it. I nearly gave up with it several times but I persevered because as per usual I always try and give a book a second chance. However, the book was brilliantly written and very cleverly worked out. Doughty really knew how to feed the reader just enough information to keep them hooked to the story and I enjoyed her writing style.

My biggest problem with this book was that I just could not stand the main character. Yvonne is a successful and very intelligent woman with a successful career as a scientist but I found her extremely dumb at times and very frustrating. There were so many times I wanted her to grow a spine and actually do something especially in her home life and with her husband. I also found her very gullible and quite frankly unbelievable. 

I found the scenes in the courtroom fascinating and very well researched. As someone who has done jury duty I really appreciated the detail that was included in these scenes. It was obvious what was going to happen but still really good to read about. 

I found this book so frustrating because it was well researched and cleverly written but the main character was just too implausible for me to believe in. I give this book 2 out of 5 Dragons. 

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About the author

Louise Doughty is the author of ten novels, most recently A Bird in Winter, published by Faber & Faber UK Ltd in August of last year. Her previous books include Platform Seven, filmed for ITVX and broadcast on 7th December 2023; Black Water, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year; the bestseller Apple Tree Yard, adapted for BBC One; and Whatever You Love, nominated for the Costa Novel Award and the Women’s Prize for fiction. She has been nominated for many other prizes including the Sunday Times Short Story Prize and the CWA Silver Dagger, along with creating and writing the hit BBC drama Crossfire. Her work has been translated into thirty languages.

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