A Plane of Intersection
In spite of Lotte Shoebuckle's difficulties, she went to work in the mills during World War 2 and was seduced be the boss's son, subsequently losing her child in the womb. She then worked on the land, ploughing with a tractor where she could be alone. After the war, her father died and she was unable to cope, so for twenty years she was kept in an asylum. Then she was diagnosed as autistic, which was at first misrepresented as artistic. thus she learned to paint. Free at last, she moved to World's End, where, following advice given, she lived a solitary life and painted. Not only did she paint but she danced, for the ballrooms of the Russian court were her obsession. Now she is eighty and senses that all is not well. The universe she has been painting is orthogonal to ours and she can see there is going to be a collision. She needs help and by chance, Pamela Street arrives in her gardens one night.
There is much in this novel about land. The Finches, down at the bottom of the hill, want to sell, but are thwarted by the murder of a prostitute. Their son, Royd, is in a group that want to create a country park on the slopes. Their success drives developers to covet Lotte's land. Pamela assists her in dealing with them and nefarious schemes are set in motion. Lotte's art is four-dimensional and looking at it is disorienting and scary. Her canvasses thus fend of her tormentors but untimately they are destroyed when her home is set on fire (at least all but one of them). Thus she is left with nothing and prepares herself to win all by playing nul ouvert.
Like the murdered girl, Shelley Kavanagh is on the game but the inspector suspects her to be the murderer's ultimate target. Royd and Shelley have met and feel an impossible attraction. She sees him with another girl and knows she must reform, so she tries to escape her pimp, only to commit a desperate crime before being brought home by Lotte, who sees that the two of them are doomed to meet in that final collision.