The Palm House

The novel is narrated by Laura Miller, a writer and editor living in London, and unfolds across five parts alternating between her present-day friendship with Edmund "Putnam" Putnam and retrospective accounts of her earlier life.

The story opens on an unusual afternoon when Saharan sand and wildfire ash have turned the London sky dark yellow. Laura and Putnam, the deputy editor of a literary magazine called Sequence, are drinking at the Anchor pub on Southwark Bridge. Putnam reminisces about his schoolmate Barry Pymer, a precociously adult boy who shared his literary enthusiasms before moving on to communism, the National Front (a far-right movement), and the debating society. Walking toward Putnam's office, Laura notices his eczema has returned, his hands crusted and split. She calls whoever is causing his stress "the gift that keeps on giving." Putnam corrects her: "Taking. He's got nothing to give."

The narrative explains Putnam's departure from Sequence, where he has worked for 25 years. The board replaced the previous editor, George, with Simon "Shove" Halfpenny, a former sports-title manager. At his first meeting, Shove declares he wants to turn Sequence into a London version of the New Yorker. Putnam objects, citing the magazine's distinct identity and loyal readership. Shove proves disruptive: bellowing about celebrities, assigning unwanted nicknames, and commissioning mediocre freelancers. Putnam and colleagues Vik and Katherine Tanner run interference to protect editorial standards, but the atmosphere becomes unbearable.

Six weeks after his father Martin's funeral, Putnam reaches his breaking point. Martin died of pancreatic cancer, and Putnam has been clearing his father's house in Kew while enduring Shove's regime. When Shove ignores his emails requesting a meeting, Putnam sends his resignation. Laura urges him to retract it, but he refuses. He spirals, declaring himself "a nobody" who will never work again. Katherine, Putnam's former fiancée, tells Laura that his distress extends beyond Shove: It is compounded by Martin's death and the loss of George, whom Katherine calls "the other father." Both women see the death of Putnam's mother when he was 12 as the defining fact about him.

Part Two shifts to Laura's childhood on the Wirral, a peninsula across the river from Liverpool. At six, Laura and her mother, Di, move in with her grandmother. Di is brisk, efficient, and self-contained. Substantive conversation is rare; the three communicate in announcements and routines.

Laura recalls a family trip to Dubrovnik, Croatia, when she is 14. The three women notice that local waitresses all wear distinctive lace-up boots, and the observation becomes a shared game. They find a shop and each buy a pair. Walking back to the hotel, a young man calls out, "Your shoes they are shit." None of them react. They also visit a fortune teller by the beach who, instead of reading Laura's fortune, rubs intently at the warts on her hands. The following week, the warts disintegrate into powder, revealing new pink skin.

Laura recounts her teenage obsession with Chris Patrick, a popular comedian who portrays a sensitive, guileless figure perpetually in pain on radio and television. She records cassette tapes about her life and sends them to him. At the Liverpool Empire, she meets Anna McCord, a 19-year-old student who becomes her close friend. At a later show, Chris Patrick recognizes Laura's name from the tapes and puts both girls on his guest list. Over several shows, they visit him backstage and stay in his hotel rooms. Laura is 15.

Anna visits Chris Patrick alone and tells Laura they kissed and more. Laura registers the information without processing it. In August, Laura travels alone to his flat in Kilburn. The flat is dirty; he takes cocaine at the kitchen counter. He steers her into the bedroom, where he opens a cupboard that Laura later realizes likely contained a video camera. He instructs her to undress, positions her, and turns her head toward the camera. Afterward, he walks her to the tube, telling her she will probably get thrush. Laura is in severe pain for weeks. She tells no one, not even her mother, who a week before the visit had caught Laura trying on new underwear and said, "Ooh, lucky Chris!"

Laura moves to London for university. Part Three opens with her meeting Di and Di's companion, David, in a Liverpool pub. Di is 62 and recently redundant. David is quiet and droll, but Di ignores his remarks. He eventually leaves her for an old girlfriend he found on Facebook. Di continues visiting their shared holiday spot in Ibiza alone; when a waiter asks after David, she tells him David is dead: "Está muerto."

Craig Reid, a playwright friend, introduces Laura to Lawrence Wells, an actor living in a decaying inherited flat in Chelsea. Their intermittent relationship develops around his theatre work and heavy drinking. Craig suggests Lawrence may be heading toward an early death. Laura also takes an assistant editor job at a history magazine, which gives her structure and income.

Part Four finds Putnam in his Bermondsey flat after leaving Sequence, writing letters to the Times Literary Supplement (TLS) and the Financial Times. Laura visits; the flat is immaculate. On the balcony, Putnam confesses that an "appalling, unmanageable unhappiness" has been fighting its way out. When Laura asks if he is really unhappy, he pauses: "'pparently."

Laura's mother takes up Spanish at an evening class in Liverpool, and the language becomes the main subject of their phone conversations. Laura's father, Stephen, dies of a stroke. Her Uncle Owen, Stephen's younger brother, delivers the news. Owen has been calling Laura with updates about Stephen for 20 years. There is no will, and Laura inherits the proceeds from the house sale. She buys a studio flat in Ravenscourt Park. While awaiting completion, she stays with Mitch Seiler, a TV producer whose demeanor shifts from welcoming to proprietorial once he returns from filming. On the day her purchase completes, Laura packs her things and leaves, standing on the kerb with her bags, grinning.

Laura and Putnam visit Milano's, a cafe in Kew where Martin used to go. Putnam recalls a Polish waitress Martin developed a crush on. When Putnam once asked what happened to her, Martin broke down: "Obviously I was a bit older, but I had hopes." After the meal, Putnam carries Martin's ashes down to the Thames foreshore in heavy rain. Laura waits on a bench.

Part Five brings the Sequence circle together at the Crown pub after Shove's departure. The group dissects the damage: three people lost their jobs, and subscribers were alienated. Putnam retells the story of his father and the waitress; Katherine squeezes his hand. Liv, Putnam's downstairs neighbor, sits on his other side. Putnam and Liv walk Laura to Waterloo.

The novel closes with Laura in her new flat, reading the latest Sequence. The masthead lists Katherine as Editor and Putnam as Editor-at-large, a senior contributing editorial role. Lying in the bath, she notices condensation on the skylight and a window frame turning black. She resolves to fix things as they come up. She recalls the plumber's recent assessment of her old boiler: a very old model, but one with "every chance" of lasting.