A couple of books bought secondhand from a village jumble sale; in the front, a name - Johnnie Bearsden - scrawled in a childish hand. This is all it takes for old wounds to open and rumours to begin swirling again. Who is the father of seven-year-old Izzy Haddon - her mother, Jess, has never revealed the secret. Now Johnnie is coming back to the village with his American wife and children. Everyone has always assumed that he is Izzy's father, but Jess maintains her resolute silence and gets on with what she does best - riding racehorses in point-to-points. Jess's mother, who looks after her little granddaughter Izzy, and loves her with a passion, rightly suspects that things cannot long go on as they are. And when the story breaks, there will surely be terrible consequences.

Sarah Challis, whose father is the distinguished cinematographer, Christopher Challis, travelled widely with film units as a child. She has since lived in Scotland and California but is now happily settled in a Dorset village. She is married with four sons.