Winner of the MsLexia Prize, a beautiful novel about a woman's struggle with isolation and sanity woven with the story of the poet W. H. Auden

'Gripping' Margaret Atwood
'Captivating' Louis de Bernières
'Magnificent' Alexander McCall Smith

In 1930, a young man, torn apart by his illegal desire, stands on a deserted Scottish beach. Wystan H. Auden is only twenty-four and longing to be a great poet; longing too, for someone who understands him. He scribbles his telephone number on a piece of paper, puts it in an empty milk bottle, and flings it into the sea.

Decades later, Dora Fielding stands on the same beach, lost and desperate. Struggling to cope alone with her baby and suffocating in the small town, she yearns for connection. This is when she finds the message in the bottle. And calls the number.

What happens next is a breathtaking leap of faith that rejoices in the power of the human imagination.

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