Afterwards there had been the court case, when he’d been sent to prison on charges of Grievous Bodily Harm and she’d been allowed to walk away free. Free of him, free to start again. Or so she thought. Except that people kept acting strangely around her. The local press – which had always fawned over Mark – seemed to have taken his side, portraying her as some kind of psycho, even hinting in their comment pieces that she should be the one in prison. Friends went quiet on her, scared no doubt that she had become the knife-wielding maniac of the news stories. Even her own family appeared repelled. Her mum was embarrassed about what the neighbours thought and didn’t want to talk about it, whereas her sister-in-law went even further. ‘I’m sorry,’ her brother Stu had said awkwardly, when Bunny was newly out of hospital and had dredged up the energy to drop round, ‘but Sonia’s not happy about you seeing our Chlo any more. I’m really sorry.’

Another woman might have been permanently defeated by this. And in fairness, Bunny had gone home and wept copiously for the loss of her adored nine-year-old niece with her shining black hair and giggling fits. Bunny had been the most doting aunty to Chloe until then, always willing to play tea-parties or read stories or create Lego constructions together. She still had a card Chloe had made for her birthday one year – Deere Arntie Raych, I love you xxx – written in wavering, wonky letters, with a picture of two smiling stick-people holding hands (‘That’s me and you’).

Eventually, when she had been cold-shouldered from all sides, she had felt a burst of defiance appear from out of nowhere; her old fighting spirit fighting back. She was not a bad person, whatever they thought. She deserved a second chance. And so she had packed up her pitifully small collection of belongings in order to make a new start, somewhere that nobody knew her. York, she decided, randomly jabbing a finger at her road atlas. It seemed as good a place as any.

York was beautiful and the people were friendly. She left Rachel behind and became Bunny, a name from happier times, and set about finding herself various cash-in-hand jobs – cleaning, bar work, waitressing – as well as a tiny flat to rent. She sorted out a divorce and took back her maiden name, then settled on her current job, which she enjoyed, working at Grains deli, a small café in town that specialized in healthy snacks and wholesome salads. Above all, she went on losing the weight, joining a Zumba class and walking to work, finding strategies to stop herself from slipping down to her bad old comfort-eating habits. Slowly but surely, strength began to bloom within her like a Yorkshire rose.