The Housemaid by Freida McFadden Recipe by Sean Noonan
Author
A best selling American author, Freida McFadden, real name Sarah Cohan, was born in 1980 growing up in Manhattan.
Both of her parents worked, one a podiatrist the other a psychiatrist, and from an early age she wanted to be a doctor.
Going on to study mathematics at Harvard university, she moved on to medical school while but she was there, she carried in writing submitting her writing to publishers and agents.
After her time training to be a doctor she began to self publish her books. Her first book drew on her experiences as a medial intern and clinical training.
She’s a smart cookie, a doctor specialising in brain injury, but as her career as an author grew, she cut down her clinical hours, becoming part time.
She said in an interview that growing up in New York and working in the medical industry enabled her to draw in these when writing psychological thrillers and medical humour novels.
She wanted to keep her work and writing separate, hence working under the name Frieda McFadden
With two children, her husband and a cat, Freida now lives in Boston in a really old three-story house.
Freida McFadden
Book
Let into the world in 2022, The Housemaid was an international bestseller which was made into a film which went on to gross $400 million at the box office.
It was one of Amazons editors best books of the year, good reads Choice Award winner and translated into 45 languages.
This book is a psychological thriller focusing on Millie Calloway.
Millie is keeping the fact that she has spent ten years behind bars for murder, and is living in her car a secret and is blown away when she gets a job working as a housemaid to the wealthy Winchesters.
All is not what it seems.
Her room is in the attic with a window that doesn’t open and a door that locks from the outside.
At first, the Winchesters seem like a perfect people to work for.
It doesn’t take long for the beautiful Nina Winchester to become erratic and abusive to her.
Loved by all of Nina’s friends, Andrew Winchester is handsome and charming, seeming to be the perfect husband and father to their daughter Cece.
While Nina is away, Millie and Andrew go to the theatre and then spend the night in each other’s arms.
It all erupts when Nina returns, and Andrew throws Nina out of the house.
This is the cue for the second part of the book when all changes and we find out what has really been happening within those walls.
Part two shifts perspectives and shows what Andrew is really like. His sadistic side which he has used to control Nina and Cece since their marriage becomes visible when he locks Millie in the attic room for breaking a plate.
Making Millie cut herself before he is willing to let her out of the room, once out, she turns it all around and Andrew ends up dead.
The Housemaid
My Thoughts
Considering the subject matter and themes, domestic abuse, a controlling spouse and murder, I thought this was a fun book with a great twist in the plot.
Full of power dynamics and a few hidden secrets it shows the difference between appearances and reality of the relationship between Nina and Andrew, and what is presented to the world.
The writing was fast paced, didn’t leave me bored and it was a perfect as a book to take my mind away from everything else.
I enjoyed the characters and the way they wound around each other in the setting of the house.
In a way the book was in two halves, the first setting up the fantasy of the perfect relationship, the one which is presented to the world by many couples.
Then when the second half takes off it becomes a whole different book.
It becomes darker and more sinister melding the characters more into reality.
The writing was strong, and easy to read with an end that for me, felt only 80% resolved.
The way Andrew died was almost perfect and, in my opinion, justified, it was the way that Nina got away with his killing that felt way too easy and as coincidences go, it sort of pushed me over the edge.
Having said this, it didn’t take anything away from my enjoyment of the book
I give it a 3 egg rating
I give t a 3 egg rating
Chef
Taken from that time great people gifted their time and recipes for our Lockdown Lunch series, Sean Noonan showed us his recipe for Salmon with Peas, Tomatoes and new Potatoes.
Watch him on our YouTube channel and follow the recipe below.
Sean Noonan, executive chef of Griffin Inn, Sean Anthony Noonan, hustling up a light lunch for us.
If you’re a fish cooking novice, salmon is a good fish to start with. It’s not too difficult to cook, it has a gently oily flavour and a lot of health benefits.
Good for your heart with lots of those fabulous omega 3 fatty acids
Anti Inflammatory
Full of antioxidants
Sean wrote his bio himself and i’ll just let you read it so you can see how talented he is for yourself, then you can get straight on with cooking your own salmon.
If you didn’t get a chance to watch Sean cook live, just click this link and watch him again on Foodie Book Clubs YouTube Channel.
“Winner of Teflon national young chef 2013 and finalist of north west Young chef 2019., I’ve been a chef for over 10 years . I’ve worked in a variety of venues from rosette restaurants to weddings and events. As executive chef at The Griffin Inn St. Helens, I pride myself on using local and seasonal produce from the northern region, using them to reinvent classic British meals and maintaining a high quality and ethnically sourced meals” Sean Anthony Noonan
Sean Noonan
Recipe
Salmon with Peas, Tomatoes and New Potatoes
2 Servings
Time 30 minutes
Ingredients
2x 6oz portions of salmon
200g new potatoes
300g Frozen garden Peas
Cherry tomatoes
Maldon salt
Cracked black pepper
Wignalls yallo rapeseed oil
Directions
Heat a pan of water highly salted to the boil.
Once at a boil, add 200g grams of the peas, cook them for 1 minute then take out of the water.
Blend the peas in a blender until smooth
Adjust consistency with water from cooking then season. (Pro tip - if you want to create a smoother purée and prevent it from splitting, add ½ tsp of xantham gum which is available in most super markets in free from areas)
Wash the new potatoes and add to a pan of water, highly seasoned , and bring to the boil for 10 minutes.
Once cooked, take off the heat and drain
Cut the potatoes into quarters.
Depending on the size of the tomatoes cut them in half.
Heat a no stick pan to a high heat, season the salmon with salt and oil on the skin side.
Put a touch of oil in the pan, place the salmon into the pan (sin side down) and press down on it slightly for 10-15 seconds, to prevent the skin form curling.
Turn the heat of the pan down after a minute to allow skin to slowly crisp and cook the salmon gently until its cooked two thirds of the way through.
Turn the fish over, and finish cooking with a knob of butter, if the salmon is a thick piece, it may need to go into an oven at 180c for 3-4 minutes to allow it to cook though - be careful not to overcook it.
Heat the pea purée up on a low heat.
Warm a frying pan up to a low heat and add a touch of rapeseed oil.
Add the potatoes, tomatoes and the remaining peas.
Warm for 2 minutes and season with salt and pepper.
Begin to assemble the dish together and serve.
Salmon with Peas, Tomatoes and New Potatoes
