Bea Whitmore likes her life exactly as it is. The library in the converted boathouse, the familiar rhythm of the village, the green outside her window, the harbour just beyond it — all of it is known, steady, and carefully hers.

Then there is the man in the fisherman’s jumper.

Heath Edison has been quietly appearing in the library for weeks, borrowing books, lingering just long enough to unsettle her, and somehow noticing the parts of Bea she has spent years learning not to offer too freely. He is only meant to be passing through Forthaven Bay. Bea has no intention of letting a near-stranger disturb the life she fought to feel comfortable in again.

But Forthaven has a way of drawing people in.

As an old village pub faces an uncertain future and the town begins to rally around the places it cannot bear to lose, Bea finds herself pulled closer to Heath, to the community she loves, and to the possibility that safety and standing still are not always the same thing.

Because some stories arrive quietly.
And some, once they begin, change everything.