Showing The Door by Magda Szabó

A young writer, struggling for success, employs an elderly woman called Emerence to be her housekeeper.

From their first encounter it is clear that Emerence is no ordinary maid.

Although everyone in the neighbourhood knows and respects her, no one knows anything about her private life or has ever crossed her threshold. Only a great drama in the writer's life prompts Emerence to unveil glimpses of her traumatic past - a past which sheds light on her peculiar behaviour.

The Door brilliantly evokes the development of the bond between these two very different women, and the tragic ending to their relationship.