The Approved Residents

Separated single mother Danielle Brooks bought into Merewood for the promise of a fresh start: immaculate streets, helpful neighbours, parent groups, childcare swaps, and a home that finally belongs to her and her nine-year-old daughter. Then she finds a folder hidden behind a kitchen panel. Inside are notes on residents’ marriages, visitors, money, children and routines. Every household has been classified: **protect, pressure or remove**. Danielle’s file is already detailed. The first entry was written three months before she bought the house. The neighbours insist it is meaningless old paperwork. But after Danielle starts asking questions, someone enters her home and takes nothing. A woman marked for removal abruptly sells and disappears from every community group. Private details from Danielle’s separation begin surfacing where they should never have reached. Someone in Merewood decided Danielle and her daughter do not belong there. And the closer she gets to discovering how that decision was made, the harder it becomes to tell who is watching her, and who is just as frightened as she is.