Two women who have never met each other before and never will again exchange glances one fraught morning in wartime Rome. Wordlessly, they make a pact concerning the seven-year-old son of one of them. This book is the working out of the results of that pact.

Today is the 30^th of April, I finished the book last night, there are two thirds of the year still to go and I cannot believe that in all that time I will read a better book than this one, or one that gives me more enjoyment. Virginia Bailey is a wonderful writer and she has gone to the very heart of this story. The characters live and breathe in every sentence, the events are totally believable, and anyone who by the final page is not utterly absorbed is an oaf who should never be allowed to open another novel.

It is only looking back that I see (through my tears) how brilliantly done the complex structure is. Very few writers make it onto my list – that special list that says “You must read everything this author writes.” Virginia Bailey strolled onto it with ease.
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