The Golden Rule

When Hannah is invited into the First-Class carriage of the London to Penzance train by Jinni, she walks into a spider’s web.
‘The Golden Rule’ was long-listed for the 2021 Women’s Prize.
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Overview
Now a poor young single mother, Hannah once escaped Cornwall to go to university. But once she married Jake and had his child, her dreams were crushed into bitter disillusion. Her husband has left her for Eve, rich and childless, and Hannah has been surviving by becoming a cleaner in London. Jinni is equally angry and bitter, and in the course of their journey the two women agree to murder each other's husbands. After all, they are strangers on a train - who could possibly connect them?
But when Hannah goes to Jinni's husband's home the next night, she finds Stan, a huge, hairy, ugly drunk who has his own problems - not least the care of a half-ruined house and garden. He claims Jinni is a very different person to the one who has persuaded Hannah to commit a terrible crime. Who is telling the truth - and who is the real victim?
Reviews
Read Amanda Craig's 'The Golden Rule'. Don't wait. Do so at once. How to write about real people in a modern setting and infuse it with what used to be one of the great themes of literature - the difficulty and importance of moral goodness.
Just finished THE GOLDEN RULE by @AmandaPCraig, her 9th novel. It's a thrilling read, daringly plotted, negotiating class & poverty, power & privilege, marriage & abuse, inheritance & malevolence within the context of the politics & socioeconomic micro-climate of Cornwall today.
Wise, witty and seriously enjoyable... Craig is a writer at the top of her game.
Amanda Craig’s ninth novel has all the elements of an irresistible summer read: a rollicking plot, a heroine who is more than a match for anything the author throws at her and meaty social issues... As its title suggests, The Golden Rule has that rare thing: an ethical framework that’s not just implied, but explicit, and is neatly summed up as “Do as you would be done by”. It may be implausible and fantastical, but it makes you want to live a better life.
Craig’s ninth novel might be a sharp satire, an intriguing mystery and a touching romance, but it is also a timely reminder of the importance of fairy tales, myths and legends – both those found in books and played on consoles – to our understanding of ourselves.