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When we first meet Meredith Maggs it's Wednesday 14 November 2018 and she's not left her home for 1,214 days. She'd ''like'' to: in fact, she so nearly does. Her outdoor clothes are on and she's even considered which shoes to wear if she's going to catch her train. Then, she can't. She simply can't force herself to leave the safety of her home. She's fortunate that she has a good friend, Sadie, who visits regularly with her two children, James and Matilda. Sadie's a cardiac nurse and full of sound common sense. In fact , it was Sadie who gave Meredith her cat, Fred. Groceries are online deliveries and there's also an internet-based support group where you'll find Meredith as JIGSAWGIRL, so you can guess what she does in her spare time. Then Tom McDermott arrives. He's from Holding Hands, a charity which supports people with problems such as Meredith's.
Meredith's a freelance writer and the income is enough to keep the wolf from the door. She's turned into a decent baker and Tom enjoys sampling what she produces. All-in-all, she's managed to make something of her (rather relatively restricted) life. There are three people missing from the scene, though. Gavin was the boyfriend but he's now moved out. That leaves Mer's sister, Fiona (who's eighteen months older than Meredith) and their mother. There hasn't been any contact for some considerable time. Meredith misses Fee. As children and young adults , their relationship was scratchy but they'd always have each other's backs, parfticularly particularly where their mother was concerned.
Claire Alexander's characterisation is so good that it gave me a problem! You see, I had a similar model as a mother and Alexander's writing brought her back to frightening life to the extent that I ended up in tears at one point. This isn't a one-off in the characterisation department, either. You will love Meredith and will her to take a few more steps - and then fully understand why she's where she is when you hear the full story. Every character comes off the page fully formed - even the relatively minor ones. They all stayed with me after I'd finished the book and I found myself worrying about some of them. I do hope they'll be OK.

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