The story starts with someone struggling to write a letter. Each part is told from the character's viewpoint, but it is never confusing, it is quite clear who's voice/story is whose. The three characters the story revolves around are all escaping, in one way or another. Who amongst us hasn't wanted to just leave when everything go too much?I know I have wanted to, but it's not that simple, but for these three it is simple.
My only complaint about this book, is that it left me wanting to know what happened next, but that's what life is about, you make your way through/around obstacles as they appear, and move on to the next challenge.
Fleeing London is the only thing on Marina's mind when she and her toddler son Oscar, board a train heading north. Homeless and desperate to keep her son out of care, it takes her the briefest of moments to decide to seize the chance of a new start, though that choice must send her far away from everything she knows.
Soon Marina encounters Hannah, the owner of a dusty B & B, who loses her heart to Oscar and offers the mother and child a bed. And then there's Liam, a troubled young man with an unopened letter in his pocket, which he fears may contain news of the father he has spent a lifetime trying to shut out.
Each of them has a secret, and something the others need. But when the unthinkable happens, will they find a way through their fears and suspicions to help each other?
Claire Allen's new novel is a suspenseful yet tender story of characters clinging to difficult pasts, surprised into letting go.