Emily Edwards’ previous novel, The Herd, explored the topic of childhood vaccination and I had my doubts whether there were really two sides to this story or if it was just normal people versus eccentrics (to put it kindly)! This new book is on slightly safer ground and, as the title suggests, is fundamentally about whether you can have a private life and a public post.

Sebastian, Seb, is a local Head Teacher married to Rosie but experiencing marital difficulties or at least that is his excuse for a brief fling with a sex worker. The problems arise when Abi, the sex worker, moves to the small town of Waverly which is where Seb teaches.

There are rumours, then innuendos, then indignation and rage. Everyone takes sides and events slowly unfold against the background of a middle-class community whose favourite refrain is surely it couldn’t happen here!

The wife of Seb’s best friend, Eddy, becomes obsessively involved in the witchhunt which follows Seb and one of the themes of the book is the strain which these events place on friendship and relationships.

The strength of the book is the way that the story develops a life of its own so that all of the characters lose control of their own lives as the Internet and local media become involved. The book manages to explore some key issues about privacy, exploitation and morality without taking too many sides!

In the end, everything sort of works out, sometimes in quite unexpected ways, but it has been a serious lesson for everyone and there’s plenty to think about and discuss.

This is going to be a great read for the local book club because there are genuine issues to tease out. Are the comfortable middle-class residents really that bothered about the sexual exploitation of impoverished women or is it that they just don’t want it on their doorsteps? Is Abi, the sex worker, entitled to a voice in all of this and why does it sometimes seem that the children talk more sense than the adults?

It’s very readable and there’s enough there for you to draw your own conclusions about all of this.