Summary

Martha recalls explaining to someone at a wedding that like an old sofa, Patrick had always been there. The stranger commented on her good fortune as a wife, which newly-married Martha resented. Martha’s younger sister Ingrid also thought well of Patrick. For seven years, Martha and Patrick lived in a house in Oxford; she wrote food columns while he worked in intensive care. Martha recalls another party, the one Patrick organized for her 40th birthday, during which she behaved ungratefully; two days later, he left her.

Martha’s parents - Fergus Russell, a failed poet, and Celia Barry, a minor sculptor - still live in her childhood home in Shepherd’s Bush. Winsome, Celia’s wealthy sister, helped them buy the house which has hardly changed since. Celia and Fergus never invested themselves much in their home or their family. They would...