She’d followed their advice and driven up on the Thursday evening straight after work, but the weather hadn’t looked promising. The driving rain was coming down in such torrents that the wipers on Little Blue had been beating double time all the way up the A6. And as she clambered out of the car when she arrived, visibility was barely good enough to allow her to navigate the flagstone path leading to the front door of the bed and breakfast, let alone marvel at the glories of the Peak District.

It was somewhere she had always promised herself she’d visit ever since her student days, when a homesick David had spent endless hours recounting its manifold wonders. But Stephen had never been keen. He hadn’t shared her enthusiasm for the outdoors – unless it was on a golf course. And if she was being truthful with herself, he hadn’t shared her enthusiasm for David either.

She’d been so shattered from her journey and the events of the last few days that after a hot bath and a cup of tea she’d flopped straight into bed. She’d prepared herself for a day of bracing walks in driving rain, but when she’d woken and flung open the curtains the rain had abated. And to her delight she could see sunshine pushing its way through the clouds. After coffee, orange juice – freshly squeezed – and a poached egg – cooked to perfection – she was feeling just about ready to face the world again.

She donned her walking boots and checked the batteries on her camera before ramming it into an already fully laden rucksack, then headed out in Little Blue. Within thirty minutes she was heading up to Wrackley Cop, the hill fort Beth Kinsella had excavated and where Neil Fuller had worked with her as a student. Margaret and Jo had been right: a few days away was exactly what she needed. Not least so that she could clear her head and concentrate on the things that really mattered.

She couldn’t have explained why if she’d tried, but she knew that she had to get a better understanding of Beth Kinsella and the things that had driven her. And this time not from the people who’d known her, all of whom seemed to have such very different but definite opinions about exactly who Beth Kinsella was. She wanted to get a sense of her from the places that had shaped her.