Inspired, in part, by the relationship EM Forster had in later life with a policeman, Bethan Roberts's third novel is a moving story of longing and frustration. Marion, a determined young schoolteacher, has always had a crush on her friend's brother Tom, a policeman. Despite gentle warnings that Tom is "not like that", she becomes friends with him and eventually they marry. But Tom also has a lover, the educated and cultured Patrick. Despite her efforts to convince herself that their friendship is platonic, Marion eventually sees the truth.
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Roberts skilfully evokes the atmosphere of late 1950s Brighton, when to be gay was to live with the constant threat of exposure. The writing is fluid and tender, the point of view switching between that of a present-day Marion, writing a confessional letter as she cares for a frail and elderly Patrick, and Patrick's diaries of his blossoming relationship with "my policeman". That possessive note is the key to their tragedy and it's telling that the man so desired by them both remains voiceless, distant.