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From the highly-acclaimed author of SMALL PLEASURES - longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2021

Without even noticing, Esther Fairchild has become locked into 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 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. Until tragedy struck and shattered their joint existence. But now, it seems, their lives are about to become intertwined once more . . .

Praise for Clare Chambers:

'A wonderful novel. I loved it' Nina Stibbe

'Effortless to read, but every sentence lingers in the mind' Lissa Evans

'A captivating read' Woman's Own

'An irresistible novel - wry, perceptive and quietly devastating' Mail on Sunday

'Shines with an old-fashioned moral certainty that is as subtle and refreshing as it is unexpected' Independent on Sunday

'An almost flawlessly written tale of genuine, grown-up romantic anguish' The Sunday Times

© Clare Chambers 2004 (P) Penguin Audio 2021