The Story Of You is the story of a woman whose baby has died in an accident. Not the most cheerful basis for a novel, you might think, but, in true Myerson style, it’s compelling to observers of relationships and the differing coping methods we adopt when happenstance derails everyday life.

The woman – Nicole or Rosy, depending on who she’s with – goes to Paris with her partner, the baby’s father, to try and take their minds off their loss. There, she comes across an old university pal, someone she’s barely thought of in the intervening twenty years, but now she thinks maybe she hasn’t forgotten a night she spent with him. His sudden re-emergence into her life is otherworldly and unreal. Is this actually happening or is her grief playing tricks on her?

In the end, she has to make a choice between this man (the You of the title) and her partner, between her lost baby and her two remaining children.

The Story Of You is warm, insightful, at times it’s frightening and heartrending. It makes you smile and remember and cry.

It makes you sigh deeply and say, ‘Jeez, I wish I could write that well!’

Thanks, Dee. I'm a fan of Myerson so I'll order this. Looks to me like she enjoys visiting themes of loss and duty.