The Friday they leave for a weekend in Belgium, Anju discovers Freddo is cheating on her. She doesn’t share her knowledge with him. What she should have said was, ‘Freddo, I’m tired of this shit. This time, I’m leaving.’

Her heart feels like it is going to stop breathing all on its own, distinct from the rest of her. The pain is so intense, she realises it is possible for the rest of her body to survive the carnage, while her heart, expelled from her being like a refugee, would simply die.

They leave for the weekend, anyway.

Anju Kale and Alfred Hughes have a twenty year old marriage held together by middle-class sensitives and a secret simmering just below the surface.

Trapped between the need for fulfilment and a love of stability, Anju must redefine what it means to be a family. In prose that is lyrical and beguiling, Selma Carvalho weaves a story about a marriage that is tender, startling and wise in turn.

This masterful work from the author of the remarkable fiction debut, Sisterhood of Swans, confirms Carvalho’s place in the literary firmament.