The story of the tragic accident of Wiil Tye told through the eyes of three generations of Tye women and especially by his cousin Cecelia whom he was most close to. This is a complexly woven story of limits of morality and unconditional love. We follow each beautifully written story relating to Will's volatile character and his relationship to them. I must say that Salley Vickers shows us that with every dark moment of our lives there will follow a glimmer of hope that buries deep inside us. I will highly recommend this intelligent, well written book to all our readers.

I received a proof copy of this book and review it here prior to publication. The changing narrative viewpooints and time shifts within this novel illuminate the story in different ways. It starts with Will who has been critically injured in an "accident". His relationship with his cousin is pivotal and reflects and refracts the relationship wbetween his grandmother (also a narrator) and HER cousin and events of another generation. This book tackles the big subjects of grief , love and personality/character. Maybe partially due to her background in psychotherapy, Vickers is always psychologically astute and accurate. One of her characters says "I am fascinated by the gaps made by people and by the gaps in people, and how those gaps get filled". This is what the book explores. There is an area of psychology/counselling that centres on how family patterns repeat across generations and this seems to be borne out by this book. It is interesting that Vickers has chosen all the narrators to be the females in the family. I enjoyed the social history and changes that are charted in the course of the story without ever overtaking the character driven plot. To me this is Vickers back to the sort of writing I enjoy. Her last book, The Cleaner of Chartres, wasn't to my personal taste. An absorbing and thoughtful book. Tracey Exeter High Street