Anyone who knew of Imogen West-Knights as one half of the pitch-perfect satirical Twitter account Bougie London Literary Woman might have made assumptions about how her first novel would look: perhaps a smart, witty comedy skewering pretensions in the world of media or publishing. Deep Down is something altogether darker; an examination of the legacy of abuse shot through with sharp wit and compassion.
Twentysomething siblings Billie and Tom are thrown together in Paris in the immediate aftermath of their father’s sudden death. Tom, the elder, is working there in an English-themed pub, avoiding the failure of his acting career (“not knowing what he is doing in Paris feels more productive than not knowing at home”). Billie has an internship at a PR company that she hates. Her boyfriend’s father talks to her “as though she is someone with dreams and ambitions. She doesn’t have these.” Both are drifting, distant from each other and their mother, until this death shakes to the foundation the defences they have built over the years against the violence of their family history.
