In this New York Times Notable Book from one of today's most
acclaimed writers, two lives stretched between two cities converge in a
chance meeting that will irrevocably change their lives.
"Hadley is a supremely perceptive writer of formidable skill and
intelligence, someone who goes well beyond surfaces." --New York Times
Book Review
Unsettled by the recent death of his mother, Paul sets out in search of
Pia, his daughter from his first marriage, who has disappeared into the
labyrinth of London. Discovering her pregnant and living illegally in a
run-down council flat with a pair of Polish siblings, Paul is entranced
by Pia's excitement at living on the edge. Abandoning his second wife
and their children in Wales, he joins her to begin a new life in the
heart of London.
Cora, meanwhile, is running in the opposite direction, back to Cardiff,
to the house she has inherited from her parents. She is escaping her
marriage, and the constrictions and disappointments of her life in
London. But there is a deeper reason why she cannot stay with her decent
Civil Service husband; the aftershocks of which she hasn't fully come to
terms with herself.
Connecting both stories is the London train, and a chance meeting that
will have immediate and far-reaching consequences for both Paul and
Cora.
