This is the house of sorrows

A Dua Lipa Book Club selection for August 2025, and one of The Guardian's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. “A literary masterpiece and a classic true crime story” - Anne Enright. “Compared to the novel “In Cold Blood” - Kate Atkinson. “Grab me by the throat” - Gillian Anderson. "Sharp and precise" - Dua Lipa on Father's Day, 2005. Shortly after dark, a deserted husband was driving his three young sons back to their mother's house. On that dark country road, just five minutes from home, the old white car veered off the highway and into an embankment. The father managed to free himself and swam to the bank, but the car sank to the bottom, and all the children drowned. The case that followed became an obsession for Helen Garner, an obsession that would dominate her life until the final verdict. The resulting book, This House of Sorrow, is both a true crime classic and a literary masterpiece, examining what we are capable of and how deeply we hide it from ourselves. An essential book from W&N Publishing, with an introduction by Rachel Cook.