Julie McDonald

In 1984, a pregnant Irish girl tries to contact her boyfriend in British prison but her letters are not allowed through to him because she writes in Irish.

'I, Margie Starling, am perfectly, perfectly happy, right now!' ...and why not? An adoring young husband, a grown-up daughter who'll soon adjust to having a stepfather her own age, and now a birthday picnic by the river. Why shouldn't Margie be happy?

Finn's story seems to begin when Henry Kirk comes into the bookshop where she works. But it goes back a lot further than that...