‘Paula talks the way that people actually talk... this is part of Swift's overwhelming honesty as a writer: he writes the way that life goes' Anne Enriqht, Guardian

‘The rhythms of tong-term partnership become the rhymes of the narrative itself.., a subtle picture emerges of how coupledom is deepened by parenthood' Robert MacFartane, Sunday Times

‘As assured and subtle as ever... Swift artfully reminds us that no set of relationships is ever free and concealment' Spectator

On a midsummer's night, Paula ties awake, Mike,her husband of twenty-five years, asleep beside her, her two teenage chi[tdren, Nick and Kate,sleeping in nearby rooms. The next day, she knows, will. define at[t their lives.

As morning approaches, Paula recalls the years before and after her chi[tdren were born. Her story is both a celebration of love possessed and a moving acknowledgement of the fear of loss, the fragilities,illusions and secrets on which even our most intimate sense of who we are can rest.