Once more I lean towards the edge, my breath sticking in my throat, tears pricking my eyes as we begin to round Brownsea, until piece by piece I see it. A thin line of sand. The skyline of the trees. The points where those trees dip and you can see where the reservoir lies beyond. The opening of the quay, bare of boats, waiting for our arrival.

I cry out and hold my hand over my mouth. My heart races as my gaze sweeps across the horizon one way and then back the other, trying to take it all in. For this is what I’ve dreamt about since the day we left. Seeing this sight again. Coming home.

Evergreen Island

1 July 1993

When Maria looked back to the start of the summer she often asked herself if she’d had any sense of foreboding of what lay ahead. Did anything feel amiss or had there been a change in the wind as it blew over the island? She always came back to the same conclusion – there was no possible way to know how much everything was about to change, and therefore there was nothing she could have done differently. But the thoughts would continue to taunt her, that possibly she just hadn’t been watching closely enough.

It started one very hot day at the beginning of July. She could remember it so clearly, and if there were such a thing as a switch that could divert your life on to a completely different track then that was the moment she’d have chosen to use it.

From Danny’s bedroom Maria had a good view of the jetty. Especially on clear days, like that morning, when the sky was a perfect pale blue and the sun dappled the surface of the water, making it look like it was covered in tiny crystals.

She’d soon see David’s boat when it pulled into the quay and right then she was watching her daughter, Stella, standing on the dock, waving wildly. She could probably see her dad coming back. It was only the first return run of the day and David would be turning around more or less straight away. With the summer forecasted to be a hot one, they expected good business to set them up nicely for winter.

It was past ten, which meant David was running a few minutes late. She pulled away as she contemplated whether to join Stella or stay out of the way. There were newcomers scheduled to arrive on this run and unusually there were eight of them in total – a family of five, the new doctor and his girlfriend, and the young girl who was studying on the island as part of her geography course. Maria was torn between wanting to see first-hand what they were like and ignoring the fact they were arriving at all.