Is she in Berlin? Is the wall a metaphor? Are the back streets dangerous? Is it set in the 1940s? The most burning question, is that her husband or another back street prowler???
Then again, it could be she lives in a small little town busseling happily with neighbors and people working about their shops. The girls are skipping rope and playing hop-scotch. The boys are playing like they are cowboys. The women are smiling and hanging laundry on the line while the men are going about their business. The only back alley prowling is a cat who the whole town loves. Now, that would be an entirely different scenario from what the picture says. I'm just playin' Welby.:) Do Tell... Just a little bit, .... pplllllleeeeeeaaaaasssssseeeeee :) :)
Yes, it's a literal wall. The book revolves around everyone in a neighborhood -- the good, the bad and the ugly -- and how their lives sort of change because the city has decided to change the layout and tear down part of a big wall and put a road through it to another area.
This woman walking the streets? PLOT SPOILER, SORT OF! She has to walk at night to get to and from her job! That's all! The man (not her husband)? I'm not telling. But it all makes sense in the book - - but not like the cover here!
I recommend any Shirley Jackson book. This is a good one!
This post was edited by WelbyQuentin at August 12, 2018 5:05 PM MDT
When I was younger I read a lot of detective magazines and every one of them had a suggestive cover like that, totally unrelated to the content. You can google "detective magazine covers" and get endless examples. Of course when I was young there was a strong preference for Nazi soldiers.
Sunshine 