Habitat

One building. Seven neighbours. A week that changes everything: When a mid-century apartment block in Oslo begins to inexplicably break down, its residents first blame faulty wiring, cracked pipes, structural fatigue. But as the disturbances grow stranger - and more sinister - it becomes clear that something deeper is unravelling. Over the course of one surreal, life-altering week, Habitat follows seven interconnected neighbours bound by family ties, old resentments, unspoken longing and fragile routines. Each experiences the building's decay in isolation, unaware - or unwilling to admit - that they are living through a shared crisis. As walls shift, systems fail and the familiar turns uncanny, Catriona Shine crafts a startling contemporary fable: a portrait of collective denial, environmental unease and the quiet terror of watching the foundations of certainty give way. At once intimate and expansive, Habitat asks how we confront forces beyond our control - and whether meaning can only be found through connection. Critics have called it: "A remarkable debut novel from an immensely talented writer."; "Lucid and uncanny... the story lingers long in the mind." - Cathy Sweeney; "Truly uncanny... I've never read anything quite like it." - Colin Walsh; "A bold and strikingly original debut." - Lucy Caldwell. The audiobook is performed by Edoardo Ballerini, multiple Audie Award winner and recipient of AudioFile Magazine's prestigious Golden Voice honour. Ballerini's nuanced, atmospheric narration heightens the novel's quiet dread and emotional precision, guiding listeners through its shifting perspectives with clarity and restraint. Unsettling, intelligent and deeply resonant, Habitat is a haunting debut for readers - and listeners - drawn to literary fiction that reflects the fractures of our time.