This moving novel of two women struggling with personal demons, spousal betrayal and family baggage is sensitively told. This poignant relationship is between Irene and Rita who are the wives of a country doctor and a farmer, respectively, living in houses within sight of each other in the English countryside. Both pregnant and with similar due dates, they meet and forge a friendship in spite of their different social status and background experiences. An awkward simpatico emerges as they share stories, feelings and fears. Through ups and downs, each maintains a soft spot for the other in a touching camaraderie. Irene comes from a solid middle-class upbringing while Rita has a checkered past including dodgy work in a London nightclub that may have included prostitution on the side.

Eric Parry, Irene’s doctor husband is a habitual philanderer, if even only in his mind, but his affair with a local man’s wife threatens the strength of his marriage. He agonizes over this even as he dodges the cuckolded husband and tiptoes around his infidelity which would jeopardize his standing as the town medico and upstanding citizen, things he cherishes. Bill Simmons is a farmer in name only, really a city boy longing to escape a family past that includes some jiggery-pokery which furnished him a privileged upbringing but plagues his conscience. As much as he tries to fit the part of a dairy farmer, he doesn’t have the skills to make it. Each in his own way fails to understand his wife and the result is a clinging sadness in the lives of these two small families. As winter cinches an iron grip on the country Irene and Rita become more and more unhappy in their circumstances and seek escape in flight and drugs. Each has experiences that exacerbate their discomfort leading ultimately to personal tragedy for both.

Delicately told and evoking a sympathy for these women, trying desperately to find happiness and fulfillment as mothers this tale is both compelling and affecting. The reader will inevitably feel a kinship with both and come to care for them and hope for a happy outcome. The peril of the bitter winter furnishes a background for their struggles and adds a physical danger to the narrative, heightening the suspense as the tale progresses.