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A tender story of mothers, daughters and breaking family patterns, from the author of bestseller My Policeman which became the hit film starring Harry Styles

When Winnie is happy, Lillian is happy, too.

It’s the mid-1960s and Lillian Wells is a clever teenager with a daring pixie cut, tangerine mini-dress and new boyfriend, Jim, who works at the brewery. Even better, he lives across the road, so she’s never far from her bee-hived, high-heeled single mother Winnie, who is prone to attacks of the nerves. But Lillian harbours secret dreams of going to art school in London. When she gets in, how will she tell her mother – and Jim – that she’s leaving Abingdon – and them?

Forty years later, Lillian’s own daughter Rachel is heading off to university, but Lillian is not sure either of them are ready. She sees herself and Winnie in Rachel, who is ambitious and intelligent, but also prone to nervous habits. As Lillian tries to bite her tongue about Rachel’s symptoms, she is reminded of what everyone in Abingdon used to say: It’s a short road to Longbrook… the local institution for the mentally ill. Lillian knows this is all too true, but in a family where secrets run through generations like the rushing waters of the local river, can she bring herself to break the cycle and tell Rachel the truth about her past?

‘Roberts is an exceptionally tender and empathetic writer’ Grazia

© Bethan Roberts 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026