'At times I just wanted to punch the air in a frenzy of delighted recognition.'

Julie Myerson

'She makes you know exactly what it is like to live inside the skin of a particular character, on a certain day, in all its richness.'

Daily Telegraph

'Cusk's writing is so beautiful that I would happily read her account of a trip to the shops on a rainy morning.'

Literary Review

Thomas Bradshaw and Tonie Swann are experiencing the classic symptoms of marriage in its middle years: comfortable house, happy-enough daughter and an eerie sense that life might be happening elsewhere. Then Tonie accepts a big promotion at work and Thomas agrees to become a stay-at-home dad. While Thomas is suddenly faced with the daily silence of an empty house, Tonie finds herself alive to previously unimagined possibilities. And at the head of the family, the ageing Bradshaw parents continue their marital dynamic of bickering and petty undermining.