After three highly praised novels and a collection of short stories, Tessa Hadley has established herself in territory also colonised by Lorrie Moore and Helen Simpson, anatomising quiet, middle-class family life with acute psychological insight. This beautifully evoked fourth novel is a further example of her talents.

The two halves of this book each feature the tribulations of a different couple. It encompasses two cities, Cardiff (and the countryside around it) and London. The link between the narratives is a chance meeting on an intercity train. The challenge of this structure – which Hadley does