Absent in the Spring

After a disappointing visit to her daughter in Baghdad, Mrs Scudamore is travelling back to England, when a railway disruption forces her to spend a few days in a guesthouse near a forlorn station in Iraq. She is the only guest, and the environment offers no distractions. During the week of her enforced stay, she finds herself musing about her past and her relationships with her daughter, her husband and a close friend from school. The experience is both painful and confusing, and she is not entirely sure of her sanity once the train service is finally resumed. She then tells her story to a fellow passenger. A very moving psychological novel, and totally different from Christie’s crime novels.