Flora is with her boyfriend, Richard, when she receives a call from her elder sister Nan, informing her that their father has had a fall, and that she must come to the house where they grew up as children (an old swimming pavilion by the sea). Her mother, Ingrid, went missing when she was just ten years old. This story is told from the point of view of Flora. Claire manages to observe the simplest things about every day life (for example, the challenges of putting on a bra) and all of her characters have mannerisms and flaws which help us to connect fully each of them, whether we like them or not. It wasn’t only Claire’s writing that I fell in love with, but her ability to create characters who were real and believable (if not always likeable) and write frankly and honestly about family, human behaviour and emotion. I took my time with this book, because I desperately wanted to savour every last word. I haven’t read a novel by an author who writes so beautifully since discovering Maggie O’ Farrell in my late teens. I am a complete sucker for lyrical, poetic, descriptive prose, and I knew within seconds that Claire Fuller was going to be added to my list of favourite authors. I am the kind of reader who can easily fall in love with an author’s writing style.
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