A Guardian, New Statesman, Spectator and Observer Book of the Year
**Shortlisted for the Goldsmith's Prize**
'A work of stunning beauty, deep insight and great originality.' Monica Ali, New York Times
'Tremendous from its opening sentence.' Tessa Hadley, Guardian
'A work of cut-glass brilliance.' Financial Times
In the wake of her family's collapse, a writer and her two young sons move to London. The upheaval is the catalyst for a number of transitions - personal, moral, artistic, and practical - as she endeavours to construct a new reality for herself and her children. In the city, she is made to confront aspects of living that she has, until now, avoided, and to consider questions of vulnerability and power, death and renewal, in what becomes her struggle to reattach herself to, and believe in, life.