After journalist Caroline Marshall is killed by a drone strike in Pakistan, her devastated husband, Michael, leaves their cottage in Wales and moves to London to try to build a new life. There, living in a flat on the edge of picturesque Hampstead Heath, he develops a close friendship with the seemingly perfect family next door, Josh and Samantha Nelson and their two young daughters. The connection fosters the beginning of a healing process, which is disrupted when he receives a letter from the conscience-stricken pilot responsible for Caroline's death. Still reeling from this stirring of his grief, Michael makes a fatal error of judgment that brings a burden of guilt and a shattering secret into his life. As the tragic consequences of Michael's loss ripple outward, Owen Sheers's stunning novel propels us to a conclusion that is both profoundly unsettling and deeply moving.
