Living With Strangers

“Dear Madeleine,

I recently found these letters among Josef’s things and felt they should be returned to you. I was not sure where to send them as you may have moved after so long but your mother gave me your address. Josef and I have shared a home for five years. Last month he left me and I don’t know where he has gone. I am in the process of trying to find out what has happened.”

Living with Strangers is a family drama set in England, France and Germany between 1963 and 1978. The story is told through the eyes of Madeleine Feldman, a young woman coming to terms with the loss of her brother who left home suddenly and mysteriously when she was 13. It is her rite of passage from early adolescence to adulthood. Madeleine is a strong, sympathetic protagonist, subjected to rejection and indifference at home and at school, whose life becomes a series of poor decisions and errors of judgement.

When Madeleine is sent a package of old letters by Josef’s partner, letters which have been opened and read but not replied to, it acts as a catalyst for the events that follow – a quest to locate her brother. Why did Josef leave? Why didn’t he contact Madeleine? And, more importantly, why didn’t he come back...?

Living With Strangers deals with issues of inter-generational conflict, job security and single parenthood at a time when communication within a family was often poor, when sexuality was a taboo subject and prejudice and intolerance were rife – all issues that still resonate today.