Bereft of the three people she has held most dear - her mother, her daughter and her husband Dermot, who wants a divorce - Celia is on the verge of suicide. Then one night on an exotic island she meets Larraby, a successful portrait painter, and through a long night of talk reveals how she is afraid to commit herself to a second chance of happiness with another person, yet is not brave enough to face life alone. Can Larraby help Celia come to terms with the past or will they part, her outcome still uncertain?

'In Celia we have more nearly than anywhere else a portrait of Agatha.' Max Mallowan, Agatha Christie's second husband.