There’s plenty to unpack in A M Howell’s alluring narrative. The novel explores how different people respond to bereavement and the role of compassion in helping others through their grief. Themes of friendship, time, poverty and empathy ebb and flow through the plot, pulled together by sharp historical details that pave the way for the gender roles of the time to be examined with due nuance. Balancing the sadness of the themes of grief and loss is a thread of hope that picks up strength as the story progresses, especially in relation to the liberation of gender constraints – a hope that is personified in the characters who opt to compose themselves with integrity and forge their future path without compromising on either rights or morals…