When 52-year-old Willow arrives at a rental cottage in a far-flung island off the coast of Ireland, she determinedly keeps herself to herself. The cottage is small and unheated, with a modest kitchen and a bedroom with a single bed. Unpacking some hair clippers, she sets about shaving her shoulder-length blond hair to the “uncomplicated blunt crop of a hard-working country woman”.
Willow, who was previously called Vanessa, apparently does not wish to be recognised among her island neighbours, who are understandably nosy about new arrivals. In her old life she was married for 28 years to Brendan, a swimming coach who is now in jail (the nature of his crime, and the ensuing scandal, becomes apparent later on). The couple had lived in Dublin and had two children, one of whom died tragically young. The other, now an adult, barely speaks to Willow who sends her intermittent texts and stares at her phone willing her to reply.
