Lottie (42) and Quentin (52) have both been sacked because of the economic climate. They're separated (Quentin has been away 3 years after being unfaithful) but now have to live together to economize (Lottie thinks "Bad as it had been to lose her husband, getting him back is infinitely worse"). So they move from London to Devon (Quentin says, 'In the countryside nobody can hear you scream.'). Xan, 18 (mixed race. Afro haircut), is Lottie's son from a one-night stand before she met Quentin. Stella and Rosie are the couple's young daughters. Stella is 8 and precocious. Quentin has a son Ian from a previous relationship, a headmaster in London.
Xan gets to know a Polish woman. We learn about Polish immigrants and food processing factories. Quentin's depressed by being away from London, especially when Lottie finds a good architecture job (offered to her by an old friend, a divorced man). Lottie and Quentin independently discover that the previous occupant, Oliver Randall, was murdered, his head hacked off and never discovered. When Quentin finds the head in the compost heap he tells nobody.
Gore Tore, the local celeb, an aging popstar, has put money into the building development that Lottie's working on. Lottie's friends with his wife, Di. Lottie's mother, a music teacher, taught both Oliver Randall and Gore at the RA. Quentin becomes more thoughtful and self-analytical - 'All men are only half-good you know,' he had said to her. 'Our mothers try to civilise us, but we need another woman to do the rest.'. His father Hugh, a poet and serial adulterer, has terminal cancer and lives nearby with Quentin's mother. He thinks Lottie is having an affair with her new boss. He and Lottie still intend to divorce. Quentin, at first a comic character, becomes a better father. He falls in love with Hattie again just as the selling of their London house gives her independence. He takes the girls to the beach - "Once again, they ride the waves that are always different and always the same".
Xan, who's going to Univ in London, stays a while with Oma, Lottie's mother, and learns his father's name.
Sally and Peter, childless, own a little farm with lots of sheep. She discovers that Peter has known for 12 years that he's infertile.
It's part Whodunnit, part about families/parents, part a sociology article. We get the thoughts of Quentin, Sally, and Lottie - their insights into City/Country, Male/Female, Family/Childlessness. Sally's pregnancy seems a bit unnecessary as do the last 2 or 3 pages (indeed, is Gore Tore value for money?) but until then I liked the pacing, and the mix of tones.
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