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This extraordinary novel follows twin storylines set in a slowly-gentrifying yet run-down seaside town that’s “not on the way to anywhere else��. It is almost winter: the tourists have gone, and only the locals are left for the darkest months of the year, clinging to the beaches and weathered buildings from the resort’s heyday. Lydia and Pandora were teen bandmates in the 90s who fully lived their time in the spotlight while young but decades on, their lives and luck have diverged considerably. Now a freelance writer, 48-year old Lydia is in the midst of a crisis and reaches out to Pan for the first time in years: she moves into an as-yet-unrestored part of Pan’s derelict seaside hotel, where Lydia begins to painstakingly pick over the events of her past, reviewing them in light of new information from her ex, Henry. His “me-too�� inspired apology for a past transgression knocked Lydia sideways and shifted the entirety of her memories, altering their focus and “redrafting [her] understanding of almost every facet of her life��: now she is transfixed by the dawning realisation that consent rarely featured in her past: instead she politely accepted whatever it was that others wanted for her, often with damaging results. Pan’s teenage daughter Laurence �� Lydia’s goddaughter �� also turns up at the hotel, seeking reassurance about her own identity and choices, and the three women fall into a fragile coexistence at the edge of the world.

Elsewhere in the same town, middle-aged Joyce lives with her elderly mother Betty in breathtakingly unusual circumstances: Betty’s abusive complete control of her daughter means the two eat identically, dress in matching outfits, follow set routines which cannot be broken, burying the pain of their lost lifestyle and Joyce’s long-absent father: the very definition of faded glory. Joyce knows what questions to ask about their past to keep the mood calm and avoid Betty’s painful attacks about Joyce’s eating, or looks, or life choices, but her growing craving for freedom cannot be ignored: is there a future in which she could break out of the cage built for her?

Brilliantly descriptive, meditative, thought-provoking and nostalgic, this is a superb book which will transport you to the British coast and leave you pondering past and future choices �� not to be missed.

Featured in April 2024 Cambridge Edition magazine �� thanks to #netgalley for the ARC