AN INDEPENDENT BEST BOOK OF 2024'Beautifully written.' Prima'An almanac for the heart.' EVIE WOODS, author of The Lost Bookshop'Tender and powerful.' Observer'A pleasure to read.'SARAH MOSS, author of Ghost WallIf every marriage has its seasons, Richard and Tess's is in a deep winter. As day breaks over the Somerset Levels, Tess watches the chamomile clouds part. This morning, two sunrises graze the frosted floodplains: one rises low over a stretch of willows, while the other shines brightly from beneath the water.

The light paints the house a startling crimson: a painful beauty that Tess, Richard and their son Max - riddled with grief - find easy to ignore. But none of them can ignore Sonny, who desperately wants things to go back to the way they were before. As the seasons change, and the cracks in the bricks let in more light, might this broken family find a way to start to heal?