Ellen and Kate were best friends and committed suffragettes. On the eve of the Great War, Kate burned down a church. A man died and she disappeared. Sixteen years later, Ellen and her brother Freddie have rebuilt their lives after the trauma of war and loss. She is overjoyed when Kate reappears. But Kate is consumed by remorse over the death. They enlist the help of Alec, Freddie's ex-lover, to find out what happened that day in the church. There are ties from the past that bind them all: guilt, fear, pride. Can they break free from these and reclaim the lives they deserve?
1. Like my protagonist Ellen in Things That Bounded, I love to swim, especially outdoors.
2. I don’t have a favourite book as such, but a number of books have been important for me: these include The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin, and The Charioteer by Mary Renault, because that got me writing.
3. I hitchhiked around Europe in my twenties.
4. Like my character Alec, I sing in a choir; music is very important for me.
5. Some of my favourite authors (not an exhaustive list) are Jane Austen, Alan Hollinghurst, Kate Atkinson or Andrew Sean Greer.
6. I enjoy thunderstorms.
7. I’ve been stung by jellyfish - twice.
8. I love to take long walks in nature.
9. The Mediterranean is my favourite place to swim.
10. I always vote, no matter how unappetising the options, in tribute to the suffragettes.
Once she had obtained a degree in Psychology and Ancient History, she travelled before settling in north London.
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