Hardback : Time Warner ISBN 0.316.73021.1
Paperback : Time Warner ISBN 0.7515.3718.7
Large Print : Magna ISBN 0.7505.2553.3
Talking Boook : Soundings. Sound 3334

1971. With the troubles in Belfast at their height a happy domestic life is something that Tess Maguire yearns for. Yet the political and social unrest are sending ripples of uncertainty through every aspect of her life - and the lives of her family, friends and colleagues.

Even Tess’s business seems suddenly under threat. While her partnership with her friend Theresa Cunningham in a dressmaking firm is successful, it’s beginning to affect her romantic interests. Theresa’s boyfriend, Bob, always seems to be near Tess. Near enough, one night, to declare his feelings for her. Tess, in confusion, has to confront her own mixed up emotions concerning Bob. And to address her feelings for her own ever-faithful boyfriend Tony. Especially when he asks her to marry him...

Another marriage seems, at first, to herald some stability into their lives. Tess’s widowed mother Alice is finally to wed Dan, her long-standing partner. Free at last of his troublesome wife Anne, he can spend the rest of his years with Alice and his beloved grandson Jackie. Jackie is almost an orphan: his father Jack died in a motorcycle accident. His mother Colette may as well be dead- she decamped to Canada shortly after his birth.

And then, when Colette suddenly shows up to reclaim her son, the cracks in every relationship start to widen. Colette’s arrival in Belfast opens old wounds, triggers a bitter custody battle- and unearths secrets that will change everyone’s lives for ever.