Homesickness

Having exiled herself from England, Hestia lives an emotionally precarious existence abroad. At thirty, she has lived with boyfriends but never slept with any man. Wearying of the enchantment of virginity and its concomitant dissatisfactions, but quite unable to submit fully to a sexual relationship, she returns to London to seek out Daniel, the gay university friend with whom she is unwisely but inescapably in love. Daniel fails her, pushing her too far, too soon, into the arms of Sven, a mutual friend with, as they little suspect, a dangerous penchant for violence. When Hestia finds herself pregnant, she leaves for Canada to bring up her daughter, Ilona. Ten years later, circumstances lead Hestia to persuade Daniel to adopt Ilona, and this is the story of the tender, stormy, often funny relationship between man and child. It is also the story of the yearning for home, for a sense of belonging and connectedness, which unites the trio at the heart of the novel, each in their own way continuing the quest to allay their homesickness, a concept which will gather cohesive power as the novel unfolds.