Jodie Chapman

She could be the girl dancing on tables one night, and the next she'd be hiding in the shadows. Just when I thought I understood her, she would melt away and become a completely new person, and I'd have to start all over again. That's how it was with Anna.

Nick and Anna work the same summer job at their local cinema. Anna is mysterious, beautiful, and from a very different world to Nick. She's grown up preparing for the end of days, in a tightly-controlled existence where Christmas, getting drunk and sex before marriage are all off-limits.

So when Nick comes into her life, Anna falls passionately in love. Their shared world burns with poetry and music, cigarettes and conversation - hints of the people they hope to become. But Anna, on the cusp of adulthood, is afraid to give up everything she's ever believed in, and everyone she's ever loved. She walks away, and Nick doesn't stop her. Years later, a tragedy draws Anna back into Nick's life. But rekindling their relationship leaves Anna and Nick facing a terrible choice between a love that's endured decades, and the promises they've made to others along the way.

Isobel and Jen have spent their entire lives following the rules - of their marriages, and their religion. But when Isobel's husband leaves her, and Jen goes through unimaginable trauma, the religion turns its back. Zelda has never done what's expected of her. Living on the outskirts of the community that she, Jen and Isobel were raised in, she's trying to find herself outside of the confines of the world she left behind. As the lives of these women become entangled, they each face an uncertain future. Will they find the courage to move forwards? Or will a lifetime of expectation prove too hard to escape...