A heartbreaking new novel of grief, family and the enduring power of love from the author of We Must Be Brave




When I open my eyes I see a small dark shape at the end of the pew under the window. A piece of cloth, a handkerchief perhaps? No, a woman’s headscarf.




The blue is bright, Mediterranean.




I can’t for the life of me remember seeing it before. But all the same it seems familiar. More than familiar. As if I’ve held it in my hands before. As if it’s been next to Yvette’s skin.



James Acton has come to the village of Upton to begin again. As his grief over the death of his wife eases, he hopes to find new purpose as the vicar of this small, Hampshire parish, still emerging from the long shadow of the war.


James’s own war was in the Western Desert, where he fell in love, first with the thrill of being a hurricane pilot and then with Yvette Haddad, the captivating, enigmatic young Alexandrian with a penchant for dangerous driving.


The past has a way of clinging on to us, and even as James embarks on new beginnings, finding friends – and even love – among the people of Upton, the secrets he has held on to so tightly for years threaten to break loose. But Yvette had secrets too, and as James follows a trail that leads him back through the landscape of their marriage, what he discovers about both of them will change everything …