The breathtaking new novel from Tim Pears, author of Landed

The young Theo Cannon and his parents journey through the Cotswolds to spend Christmas at his grandparents home. Upon arriving, Theo’s shyness gives way to the strength of his beloved grandparents and the rich characters that make up the rest of his family. During childhood games, stolen kisses and homemade bilberry jam, Theo finds himself a silent witness to the adult world around him.

As the next few days unfold, Theo weaves his way through the striking countryside and many corridors of the old house discovering the fragility of family ties and subsequently confronting the tragic mystery of why they have all been summoned to the family home. 

Fifty years later Theo continues to observe the history threaded within the ancestral shadows of his memory and as a result peels back the layers of the human lifetimes that make up his own being.