Holly and Sam have been together since university, their lives wrapped up in each other's, and with everything seemingly going for them. But just before her twenty-third birthday, Sam dies suddenly.  Overwhelmed, Holly packs up the life they shared, and moves - away from all that reminds her of him - to live by the sea in Brighton.

 

Here, experiences with her new friends - including a retired magician, a sensational cook, and a pub quiz team - are interspersed with descriptions of her pain and anger. This novel is a lyric meditation on grief, as Holly talks to the Sam she imagines is still listening, offering the reader a deep and personal portrayal of the first year after bereavement.