From the Publisher
A reclusive ex-film star living in the wilds of Ireland, Claudette Wells is a woman whose first instinct, when a stranger approaches her home, is to reach for her shotgun. Why is she so fiercely protective of her family, and what made her walk out of her cinematic career when she had the whole world at her feet?

Her husband Daniel, reeling from a discovery about a woman he last saw twenty years ago, is about to make an exit of his own. It is a journey that will send him off-course, far away from the life he and Claudette have made together. Will their love for one another be enough to bring Daniel back home?

Another really engaging novel by Maggie O'Farrell. It has a number of character and varying timelines, once you get those sorted out, it's terrific.

Thank you Cassiopaeia, for kindly sending this so far. The Maggie O'Farrell book I read a couple of years ago - let me see if I can find it...
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/6033337/
was one I remember really enjoying, so I'm looking forward to this one, too. Thanks again!

This is the second book I've read by this author - the first one, After You'd Gone, I linked to above, and when I went back and read what I'd written for that one, I felt like just cutting and pasting it here. Maggie O' Farrell is truly an amazing writer. I loved her writing - the way the story unfolded, patchy and incomplete, via the voices of all of the various characters. The humanity, sadness, and frailty were there, along with love, joy, and beauty. I particularly liked Daniel's POV, and also the brief but tantalizingly heartbreaking tidbits about his mother's life. I really felt like I knew these people after spending so much intimate time with them--except for, perhaps, Claudette, and perhaps the fact that she was rather unknowable was in itself the point. The only (very small) thing that was a little off was Phoebe's use of British slang and object naming when she was supposed to be an American teenager. It was a very small thing, which I only noticed because generally the author changed her tone so fully to adapt to the voice/nationality/location of each character that that mistake jarred a little. But a minor quibble - a great book, highly recommended. And I really want to read more by this writer now.

I've begun visiting this friendly little coffee shop regularly; I left this book there yesterday, along with another, on the shelf under one of the tables, telling the staff that it was free for anyone to take. There was an other book on a shelf, too - maybe this will encourage a book exchange corner here? Delightful place, with friendly staff, good coffee and a tasty BLT!