' Terrific page-turning slyly funny' India Knight' As satisfying a novel as I have read in years' Sarah Perry' Absolutely magnificent' Marian Keyes Quentin & Lottie Bredin like many modern couples can't afford to divorce Having lost their jobs in the recession they can't afford to go on living in London; instead they must downsize & move their three children to a house in a remote part of Devon Arrogant & adulterous Quentin can't understand why Lottie is so angry; devastated & humiliated Lottie feels herself to have been intolerably wounded Mud mice & quarrels are one thing
- but why is their rent so low? What is the mystery surrounding their unappealing new home? The beauty of the landscape is ravishing yet it conceals a dark side involving poverty revenge abuse & violence which will rise up to threaten them Sally Verity happily married but unhappily childless knows a different side to country life as both a Health Visitor & a sheep farmer's wife; & when Lottie's innocent teenage son Xan gets a zero-hours contract at a local pie factory he sees yet another At the end of their year the lives of all will be changed for ever A suspenseful black comedy this is a rich compassionate & enthralling novel in its depiction of the English countryside & the potentially lethal interplay between money & marriage