For the next few days I could hardly sit still. I did my boring old lessons with Dad at the kitchen table as usual, but it was a struggle to concentrate. Dad would be talking about some ancient king or trying to make me do some algebra and I’d be thinking about how the sun had shone on Fred’s sandy hair, the way his forearms rippled as he lifted boxes.

‘Laura!’ Dad said, bringing me back to the present. ‘Come on! You’re not concentrating. If x is four, then what is y?’

I sighed. ‘Um … five?’ I offered, saying the first number which came into my head.

Dad pushed his chair back. ‘You’re guessing. C’mon, Laura, look again.’

I stared at the page but the numbers swam. ‘Tell me again why I need to know this? It’s just a puzzle. What’s the point?’

He sighed. ‘It’s part of your education, Laura. You need to be educated so you can get on in life.’

‘But I never go anywhere. I’m always here. I don’t need to know what y is equal to for that.’

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I regretted them and tried to get them back. ‘I’m sorry, Dad, I mean, I know you …’

But it was too late. His face had darkened, the way it always did on the rare occasions that I questioned him like this, and I noticed his hands clench into fists.

For many years when I was smaller I’d never wondered about our life here. Dad had always provided everything I need. I’d always felt safe and happy with him. I’d never been hungry, ill or in pain. I’d never wanted for anything. I’d always felt loved.

All those things still stood. But more recently, from the books I’d read and the films we watched, even though Dad chose them all and, I’d begun to suspect, carefully vetted them, it had become clearer and clearer to me that my life wasn’t normal. Dad said plenty of young girls lived like me these days. He told me the books we read and the films we watched were very old. He said life wasn’t like it was portrayed in those books and films anymore – it had become much more dangerous. He said that parents who really, really loved their daughters did this for them to keep them safe at home with them until they were absolutely sure they were fully prepared and ready to go out into the world. And while I hadn’t directly asked him whether this was actually the truth, I had started to think about it more, and to ask more questions. I had started to suspect that he was keeping things from me.