This is the story of three people whose lives intersect in startling, joyful, and tragic ways. Each one tells his or her story in the first person in alternating chapters:
• Professor Malcom Miller: Now retired from his position as a professor of the Old Testament, Malcolm is a self-described “crusty old bachelor” comfortably living in a care home in Oxford. When he was 20 years old in 1946, his beloved sister, Sophy, tragically died along with her husband in an automobile accident. The day before, Malcolm had visited Sophy and Kurt to pick up their four-year-old daughter, Agnes. Uncle Mally and Agnes took the train back to his parents’ home, while Sophy and Kurt enjoyed a night alone. The next day they drove the car…and died. Malcolm has not only been filled with grief over Sophy’s death, but also filled with guilt. She had given him a very personal letter to deliver, but he never did. Some 50 years later, he still has it. What will happen if he reveals its shocking contents?
• Dr. Joseph Conrad Bradshaw: Now 80 years old, Joe has spent his life as a serial adulterer. Although he enjoyed a stellar career as a psychotherapist, he can’t seem to find peace and solace in his personal life. Marry, cheat, divorce. Rinse and repeat. One of his patients over the years was Agnes, and he immediately felt a connection to her that he never did with any of his other patients—a connection so deep that he becomes obsessed with her. When Agnes’s daughter, Elfie, marries, Joe is at the small wedding—only 11 people—and he meets Agnes again after all these years.
• Dr. Agnes Josephine Stacey: Agnes, who is in her 50s, is an Oxford professor who is lonely and deeply distrusting of other people. At one point she says that her life has been predicated on never belonging to anyone. This attitude was no doubt caused by two horrific events: The deaths of her parents when she was four years old and her marriage (and subsequent divorce) to Richard, who physically abused her.
The book has two big events at which the players all gather: Elfie’s wedding to Theo, which takes place at Richard’s opulent home where Agnes has never felt safe, and then the christening a year later of Elfie and Theo’s daughter, Josephine. Secrets are kept and revealed and almost destroy their lives. But this is so much more than plot. Campbell has a deft and remarkable touch in examining how each of the main three characters feels when life’s bombshells explode around them.
This a wise and tender novel about love, loss, and redemption.
