It was some weeks after the storm that Sue had realised exactly what damage had been done to her home, Castle House. During the crisis itself, she had felt like it was a fortress, offering shelter to a good deal of the population of Poldore, who had been made homeless by the floods and the rain, Then, a few weeks after the storms had passed, Tamsyn, who had been cataloguing Sue’s vast collection of historical fashion in the north attic, discovered a leak in the roof. Closer inspection revealed another eight major leaks and countless smaller ones – virtually the whole rood needed repairing, at a cost that Sue couldn’t even think about without suffering from palpitations. She had cheerfully told everyone that the insurance would cover the cost, and precisely no one that last year’s insurance premium had been so high that she had decided not to renew and to simply hope for the best. She, Sue Montaigne, the worst-case scenario expert, had decided to hope for the best. Well, she’d never make that mistake again. And anyway, she’d worry about that in the New Year, first there was Christmas to get through.

There was so much to do, so much to organise for the pageant, a new – and frankly flighty – Virgin Mary to train, a Joseph who was allergic to sheep, and now she needed a new Santa. Which meant holding auditions between now and Christmas; which meant that it had to be done, well, right away.

Sue stopped herself, and took a breath. She looked out at the sea – grey, flat, calm, blending almost perfectly into the sky, except for a deep streak of azure blue that ran between them.

‘Montaignes have faced worse,’ she told the sea. ‘I mean during Mary Tudor’s reign quite a few of us got burnt at the stake.’

Sue was no fool, she knew exactly what she was doing. She was whipping herself into a frenzy over Santa and the Christmas pageant so that she didn’t have to think about the other thing. Soon, very soon, she would have to think about it, and try to work out what to do, but for now she just didn’t have the energy. Holding auditions for Santa at a moment’s notice seemed much more appealing than having to deal with the inconvenient truth that her life was falling apart at the seams.