What Lies Within

TEMPORARY paralysis. An inability to speak properly or listen clearly. An inability to focus. These are the symptoms of reading an excellent novel where only your brain and your imagination function, and these two become inextricably linked with the words and the imagination of the novelist. Annabelle Thorpe in her novel,

achieves this little miracle. But to the beginning: Three friends. Hamad, a Morrocan, Paul Hepworth, and Freya (Paul’s wife) study together, forge deep friendships, then part company to begin their work lives. Paul is an architect and Freya a publisher, both based in London. Hamad, based in Doha, has an unlimited budget. Paul suggests to Hammad that he does something interesting, like start a hotel. In the meantime, 10 years pass, and Hamad gets them together in Marrakech. He offers the unattainable in a normal life. He has purchased three houses, and offers Paul the job of renovation and rebuilding. To Freya, he offers his grandmother’s life as a biography to be written. It is an offer too good to pass up, and soon Paul and Freya are in the Moroccan city.

As happens in so many good stories, the body of Hamad’s love interest, the fascinating Racine Delacroix, lies dead on the second page of the novel. But this is where the similarity to a murder story ends. is a psychological thriller with twists and turns as complex as the labyrinthine streets of Marrakech where it’s all set.

What is quickly apparent is that the marriage of Paul and Freya has hit a dead spot, and part of Hamad’s interest in bringing them to Marrakech is to renew that spark, as well as, of course, introduce to them, his own love interest, Racine. What’s also apparent is that grandmother Dame Edith, at 85, is a remarkable woman. A seasoned travel writer, she