When an enigmatic stranger crosses their path, the Hunter family’s life is never the same again.
Lois Hunter is well off, happily married; and has a nice home, two happy well-adjusted sons, and lives in a beautiful part of the country – Dorset. Husband Ken, a city banker, lives in London during the week and comes home at weekends. Both are pillars of the community, into good causes, and local activities, keen supporters of the hunt. A good, satisfying, richly rewarding life one might think.
Why, then, with so much going for her, does Lois develop an attachment to a beggar she sees outside a supermarket? There is nothing sexual in it; she insists on that. The sight of Oliver and his two puppies sitting on the pavement on a cold October afternoon touches her heart. She resolves to do all she can to help Oliver despite the protestations of Ken and her sister Wendy.
Shortly after they meet, Oliver disappears, to reemerge six months later, injured, and once again, he becomes the object of Lois’ solicitude.
The effect of this enigmatic man on the Hunter family and the disruption he causes form the basis of this engrossing novel, which also has undertones of a psychological thriller.
