"I have no partner. And there's no question of continuing, I'm afraid," I say, repeating the exact words I used in the doctor's surgery in order to be referred here in the first place. I could tell her more, explain that someone like me is not to be trusted with another life, but though I turn the word over in my mind, trying to give it some weight - life, life - I cannot invest it with any kind of resonance. She understands enough though and gives me a sweet, sorrowful smile. Then we both consult our diaries.

When Kate Matheson's life in London unravels, she returns to her childhood home - an empty cottage that her mother still owns in Broadgate, a small seaside town in Kent. Here she hopes to find the tranquillity and the space she needs to rebuild herself. She attacks the wilderness that was once a garden, runs along the beach each morning, rereads Swallows and Amazons and is happy to avoid anyone whom she knows from her childhood. Then she meets Marie, a painfully young single mother, unable to cope with her small children, and Kate's peaceful existence is suddenly routed.

She finds herself having to play the role of mother to Daisy, Marie's five-year-old daughter, and, when Marie's life takes a turn for the worse, is forced to offer Daisy sanctuary in the cottage itself. Soon Kate has to learn not only how to survive the depredations of a five-year-old but also how to face the shadows still cast by her own childhood.