It is 1936 and nineteen-year-old Kitty is searching for independence, so she answers an advertisement for a cook to work in ‘an artistic household’ in deepest Sussex. Her new employer is Ellen Steinberg, a doggedly bohemian and extremely rich American (based on Peggy Guggenheim), on the run from her demons and experimenting with rural living with her latest lover, the communist poet George Crane. Geenie, 11, is Ellen’s daughter. Her life is lived according to her mother’s whims. Desperate for attention, she sunbathes nude with Ellen and sledgehammers walls to drown out the sound of afternoon lovemaking. The gardener, Arthur, has observed this state of affairs for a while. He warns about the dangers of getting too close to ‘them’ and is deeply sceptical of George’s efforts to bond with the hired help. Over the course of one summer, however, Kitty finds herself inexorably connecting with this fragile household.

This is a thoroughly absorbing novel. Through her convincingly drawn characters (especially the bright, brittle Geenie), Bethan Roberts maps the treacherous territory of family ties, class divides, and the vulnerable human heart.