Kate is struggling. She's living in a village with her son, with no money, little hope for the future, and in the midst of a two week quarantine. She's desperate to get outside to clear her head and escape the monotony, the worry, the foreboding, the confinement. She decides that a short walk up the hill just beyond her garden gate, in the early evening, would be fine. No one would know.

But her neighbour Alice sees her leave and when her son Matt returns home, he soon realises he needs to report Kate missing.

And Kate can't get home - she's fallen and is lying injured on the moors. She needs the mountain rescue team.

This is a gripping, moving and atmospheric short novel. It presents a vignette, a glimpse into just four lives through a few short hours, but it says so much about the experience many of us have shared during this pandemic. It's both amusing and poignant, and the struggles and dilemmas, the compassion and kindnesses are vivid and powerful. Breathtaking.