Sue Gee

In the aftermath of the First World War, Walter Cox a young painter leaves Kent for London. At the Slade School of Art, where students and ex-soldiers mingle, Walter tries to rediscover his art in the wake of tragedy.

A collection of short stories, some set in the past, others contemporary stories set in London or Europe.

During the summer of 1968, Harriet is working in London and meets and falls in love with Karel, a Czech student. But he returns home at the time of the Russian invasion. Now, 20 years on, Harriet takes her ten-year-old daughter on an overland journey to Czechoslovakia, to rediscover her first love.

In 1860 a young curate, Richard Allen, takes up his first position in a rural parish near Hereford. Although he has high ideals about his service to God and his fellow man, he cannot contain the love he feels for a married woman. Their affair rocks the quiet community to its foundations.

Friends since university, with busy working lives behind them, Dido and Georgia have long been looking forward to carefree days of books and conversation, when each finds herself caught up in unexpected domestic drama. Meanwhile, an eccentric country cousin goes wildly off the rails, children are unhappy in love, and perfect health is all at once in question.