‘There was no one in the room. Blinds and curtains were closed … An antique clock marked time in a hushed monotone … Then the door opened and as Claudia came with hurried steps into the fire’s glow, two open letters in her hand, the telephone began ringing. She shut the door and turned up the lights.’   Claudia Heseltine returns to this moment three times in a series of parallel narratives. As the timeline resets, she accepts an invitation to a particular social engagement and with each choice, her life takes a different path. Mistress, unfulfilled wife, devoted mother: Theodora Benson explores these themes, in a thoughtful and experimental novel.