The Girl on the Stairs

Between October and November (and between my university readings) I read Louise Welsh's The Girl on the Stairs, a novel which was recommended to me by a Scottish Literature academic at Glasgow University.

I haven't read any reviews, but I'm sure the most frequent word in them is either "disturbing" or "disquieting", and if not, anything beginning with "dis-". Because that is what this novel is. It reminded me a little of Sarah Waters's The Little Stranger, in the sense that, as a reader, you keep looking for clues that can help you rationalize what is going on, clues for an explanation that "makes sense". And, as Waters's novel, The Girl on the Stairs leaves you with nothing. 

The two novels also have in common the unreliable narrator and a steady build-up of the tension. Welsh's novel gives it a further twist with a demolishing epilogue in which "normality" is reinstated, but just superficially. Under the layer of unnatural normality lie creepiness, distrust, even disgust (See the "dis-" words making their appearance again?).

The two major elements that contribute to the uneasiness present throughout the novel are the fact that the main character, Jane, has just entered two unexplored territories (for her, that is) at once: Berlin (she's from Glasgow) and pregnancy. Being a stranger and speaking little German, as well as the possibility of hormone-induced paranoia all play a part in the development of the events the book narrates. 

This book also deserves a mention for dealing in a straightforward way with a mature lesbian relationship (not just the romance/falling-in-love stages) and the changes pregnancy brings into the couple's situation. 

Have you read anything by Louise Welsh? Do you have any recommendations? =)