by Clare Chambers (Author)
Without even noticing, 34-year-old Esther Fairchild has become a prisoner of routine. Living with her adored brother, Christian, she divides her time between illustrating children's books, nightly shifts as a waitress, weekly visits to her father and fortnightly meetings with her married lover. Then one day she encounters a face in the crowd, which jolts her out of her mundane existence and makes her question both her life and the past that has helped to shape it. Memories she had long chosen to forget begin to resurface. Memories of an eccentric childhood in a large and shabby house, where the children were very much left to fend for themselves within the loose boundaries of their parents' unorthodox values. A chaotic existence peopled by a rich collection of feckless 'guests'. And into this shambolic world came Donovan - regularly deposited by his unreliable mother - and Penny, Christian's girlfriend and Esther's idol and mentor. Until tragedy struck and shattered all their lives. Now, it seems, their lives are about to become intertwined once more ...
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 512
Publisher: Century
Published: 01 Jul 2004
ISBN 10: 1844135888
ISBN 13: 9781844135882
Book Overview: THE IRRESISTIBLE NEW NOVEL BY THE AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF LEARNING TO SWIM