Bea is middle aged, childless, has a dead-end job with the council in Cambridge, and is unhappily married to Frank, a selfish, feckless would-be-writer, who amuses himself with the Polish cleaning lady. Bea's successful sister, Katharine, the one who always worked hard, is a consultant paediatrician with two kids (nerdy, nice 12 year old Adrian and difficult, funny teenage Laura) whom Bea has minded off-and-on since they were small. One morning Bea simply disappears. Her work mates are concerned when the normally reliable Bea doesn't turn up; her husband is bemused, hopeless and suspected by the police of foul play; her uptight sister becomes increasingly emotional and starts to unravel. And the kids are quietly, genuinely upset. The police dig up Frank's patio; Katharine finds she somehow can't function without the sister who seems predictable now but who wasn't always like this; the children, more practically, check websites. Even Frank misses her, but will no doubt be able to move on. As time goes by, the Bureau of Mis. Pers. doesn't hold out much hope. A woman's body is found in a ditch. But there are further twists to come. Bea has history which her nearest and dearest know little about, and things don't turn out quite as they might have liked or expected. This is a funny, thoughtful and finally poignant novel about a woman who tried to be good and to do the right thing, and about the ripples that even the most ordinary lives can make around them.