The Flatshare
Tiffy and Leon share an apartment. Tiffy and Leon have never met. After a bad breakup, Tiffy Moore needs a place to live. Fast. And cheap. But the apartments in her budget have her wondering if astonishingly colored mold on the walls counts as art. Desperation makes her open minded, so she answers an ad for a flatshare. Leon, a night shift worker, will take the apartment during the day, and Tiffy can have it nights and weekends. He’ll only ever be there when she’s at the office. In fact, they’ll never even have to meet. Tiffy and Leon start writing each other notes – first about what day is garbage day, and politely establishing what leftovers are up for grabs, and the evergreen question of whether the toilet seat should stay up or down. Even though they are opposites, they soon become friends. And then maybe more. But falling in love with your roommate is probably a terrible idea…especially if you've never met.
Themes & atmosphere
What you might want to know about The Flatshare
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Strapped for cash, Tiffy Moore answers a London ad to share a flat with a man named Leon, who works night shifts at a hospice and stays at his girlfriend's on weekends. They share the bed in shifts and start trading sticky notes.
The Flatshare was written by Beth O'Leary and published in 2019. It was O'Leary's debut novel and remains her most popular. She has since written The Switch, The Road Trip, and others.
Yes. Paramount+ released a 2022 adaptation of The Flatshare. The show is largely faithful to the novel.
The Flatshare is 344 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Flatshare takes most readers 5 to 7 hours to finish.
The Flatshare is a standalone novel by an unknown author, not part of a series.
The Flatshare is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.