Alice is forty one years old and lives her life on the brink of chaos. She has three children by three different fathers, none of whom are still involved in her children’s lives. She’s originally from Brixton but arrived in East Yorkshire six years earlier escaping from a toxic relationship with her youngest child’s father. She has a greyhound called Griff but also cares for her senile parents’ ancient poodle and a mad Staffy left behind by a lodger. She is an artist by trade, making art our of old maps in her bedroom. All her life she has followed her instincts and has paid the price for letting her heart rule her head. At a time when she is finally on an even keel, is she making a terrible mistake by letting Frank into her life?

“Frank” is a kind-looking man, “somewhere between thirty five and forty five” by Alice’s estimate, with no memory of who he is or what he is doing on an East Yorkshire beach. He has a southern accent and is wearing nice clothes. As Alice’s houseguest he is considerate and well mannered, constantly racked by guilt that this woman already burdened with so many people to care for single-handedly is now having to care for him as well. But he’s haunted by something, something just out of reach. Is he escaping a monster? Or is he the monster? As the memories start to return to him, bit by bit, he gets closer to finding his answer.

Twenty one year old Ukrainian Lily has only been in the UK fourteen days. She’s been spending her days in her brand new flat in Surrey, patiently waiting for her brand new husband Mark to get home from work. She’s not a mail order bride. She met her husband in a real life situation and she knew from the moment she saw him that they would marry, despite a nine year age gap, despite the fact that she knew nothing about him. Lily is brittle and unsmiling, not blessed with much in the way of social skills. When Mark disappears she is left alone to navigate a country she doesn’t know and a people who don’t understand her ways. But Lily is neither as brave as she looks nor as unfeeling as she appears.