The Other Side Of Carrie Cornish: A story of neighbour wars in Austerity Britain

Who or what is the other side of Carrie Cornish? And who is the woman who ends up critically ill in hospital?Rewind twelve months and Carrie and her partner Sandy have been asked to write a diary for a month by Environmental Health Officer, Mr Vowells, after a noisy family move in next door to them in a small quite market town in Devon. Set against a backdrop of austerity and cuts, Carrie and Sandy have health problems and are struggling with welfare reform policies as well as having to deal with noise on a daily basis: rows, repetitive banging, loud music, children shouting and screaming, dog noise and fouling. As the noise takes its toll on their health, Carrie begins to lose her grip, using her diary as a record of her fragile state of mind. Alternating between first person (Carrie’s diary entries) and third person, Carrie’s thoughts and diary entries reveal something much more than a neighbourhood dispute: a personal crusade against authority and injustices in general as her entries descend into paranoia juxtaposed with disjointed news items. Having stuck together and held a united front through their neighbourhood disputes, holes are now exposed in Carrie and Sandy’s relationship as the pressure mounts. But just who are the victims and who are the perpetrators? An account of an all too familiar situation we all dread – having our peace and lifestyle shattered from next door neighbours.