Tricia Holbrook - HouseShare
It is suburban Dublin and the Celtic Tiger has just died. Six people, three couples, all in their late 50s go for their regular early bird dinner and a few pints. They have been doing this since their kids were young and they first moved into the same housing estate. All is well, everything is fine, or is it? After the food is over the lads gravitate to the bar and leave the girls to gossip. Morosely staring into their pints, the truth comes out. They are all up to their necks in debts; overstretched property developments, extra mortgages on foreign property and an early retirement package that’s not going as far as it should. Their kids have flown the nest, travelling the world or studying abroad, still a further drain on their parents already troubled finances. In order to lighten the mood one of the guys jokingly suggests they all move into one house instead of rattling around in their empty family homes. Rents are sky-high in Dublin and they could make a killing by renting the other two houses in such a desirable location. They all laugh, but could it work and how would they sell it to their wives, none of whom are aware of the financial difficulties they are in. Can their friendship, based more on one-upmanship than genuine caring, survive this close-quarter living? Especially as nobody knows of the extramarital bit of hanky panky already going on between the two of them. Sparks fly as the cracks in their marriages are put under strain in the pressure cooker atmosphere, they find themselves living in. What will be the final straw that will blow the roof off this crazy house share arrangement? Almost a year later and four people meet up for drinks and food. Who is gone and why and can the four that are left salvage something from a friendship they all miss?
ISBN 978-1-3999-5473-0
