Bradley excels in giving the feel of an English village: its delights, controversies and prejudices. I grew up in such a village and this is so finely observed I think our author may also have done. Heather, an enforced singleton with a young daughter, feels the isolation that only a truly well honed circle of disapproving ex-friends can enforce. Despite this she revels in waiting for Gerry’s arrival. Although isolated and disapproved of, our heroine (and I use the word advisedly) is not beaten, and she keeps her beloved cottage and life-style at the centre of her pragmatic approach.

I swear Bradley walked through my village, and I expect anyone who has lived in a village would feel the same. Both from the physical surroundings and the sniffy indifference of the ‘gossiping’ classes. The feeling that Heather is a threat is nicely done. Although it was her partner who up and left, she would be an ‘available’ and a ‘dangerous woman’. You can almost hear the snorts of disgust and hastily muttered comments. Curtain twitching at its best.