‘Intriguing, gripping, moving – this deserves to be HUGE.’
MARIAN KEYES
"It is my dearest wish, that after so long apart, I am able to bring this family together for my wedding day."
Mary has raised a family in this house. Watched her children play and laugh and bicker in this house. Today she is getting married in this house, with all her family in attendance.The wedding celebrations have brought fractured family together for the first time in years: there’s Phoebe and her husband Michael, children in tow. The young and sensitive Rosie, with her new partner. Irene, Mary’s ex-mother-in-law. Even Emma, Mary’s eldest, is back for the wedding – despite being at odds with everyone else.
Set over the course of an English summer’s day but punctuated with memories from the past forty years of love and loss, hope and joy, heartbreak and grief, this is the story of a family. Told by a chorus of characters, it is an exploration of the small moments that bring us to where we are, the changes that are brought about by time, and what, despite everything, stays the same.
‘Messy, complicated joyful characters and relationships that sneak into your heart and make you care … a bittersweet, deftly woven, captivating portrayal of a mother and daughters.’ JENNIFER SAINT
‘Beautiful and compelling … the most complex of dynamics are handled with the lightest, deftest touch… masterful.’ LAURA KAY
‘Unfolds like a great piece of theatre… The more I read, the harder it became to put down.’ BOBBY PALMER
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‘A terrific debut. Brave, unexpected… transfixing and captivating… full of hope, resilience and love.’ THE SUNDAY TIMES
Every ending is a new beginning.
Ruth is ignoring the news. Like most people, she has relationship problems, job stress, friends and family who need her. Ruth has a life.
But the news is about to catch up with Ruth, and her problems are going to be swept away…along with the rest of the world.
Only when the comforts and complications of her old existence are gone, does Ruth finally realise how she might be able to live to the fullest.
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“Holds the big within the small, the intimate within the epic” KIRAN MILLWOOD HARGRAVE
‘A captivating read’ THE SUN
‘GORGEOUS and original and captivating’ MARIAN KEYES
‘A story that is powerfully familiar and yet utterly original.’ AFUA HIRSCH
‘A captivating read… (a) beautiful, surprising novel’ FABULOUS
‘A novel that has stayed with me for weeks afterwards . . . Perceptive and unflinching’ JESSIE BURTON
‘A quiet, piercing contemplation on what really matters when it comes to the end of the world. Strange and beautiful’ ABIGAIL DEAN
‘Beautiful and harrowing but also optimistic and extremely moving . . . a truly arresting depiction of an unlikely relationship’ CLOVER STROUD
‘I didn’t want this book to end. It blew me away, and moved me beyond belief’ BRYONY GORDON
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