Maddie Williams loved this time of the day. The golden hour. Perfect for capturing the best images to add to her photography portfolio. Sweeping her sister’s amber-flecked ebony hair into place around her shoulders to catch the glow from the late afternoon sunshine, Maddie positioned her against the trunk of the red apple tree at the end of the garden. Sofia stood patiently as Maddie gently swathed a chiffon scarf to the side of her baby bump before taking a few steps backwards to check that everything was arranged the way she wanted it. Satisfied that her pregnant sister looked completely gorgeous, as always, Maddie lifted her camera, adjusted the shutter speed, and snapped several times, determined to take the very best collection of pictures to show off her photography skills.

‘Are you nearly done, Mads?’ Sofia called out, like a ventriloquist trying not to move her lips or head in case she ruined the shot. Any minute now, Ben, her husband, would return from the local nursery with their two-year-old twins, Ryan and Sonny, and chaos would ensue.

Six months ago, Maddie had won the camera, tripod, reflector boards, and pretty much everything she needed to be a professional photographer, in a magazine competition, together with a cash prize. The lucky break couldn’t have come at a better time. Maddie was still reeling from the blow of being made redundant and then dumped by Brad, her boyfriend of eleven years, in the space of a week.

Her life until then hadn’t exactly been perfect. Since the age of eighteen, Maddie had been working as an administrator in a variety of dull office jobs in London that had left her feeling as though she had been swimming upstream, forever trying to fight off the wanderlust, the constant yearning to travel the world and take pictures for a living instead. And she might have followed her dream if she hadn’t needed to pay her half of the extortionate rent and living expenses. Brad had insisted they split it all down the middle; that way it was fair, he said, even though his half was mostly covered by a trust fund he had inherited from his wealthy grandfather. Whenever she broached the subject of travelling, Brad had ruled it out, saying there was no way he could take time off work to go with her and she would hate travelling on her own. No, she was much better off staying at home – or so he’d told her.