The Horses Knew the Way Home

Born in wartime England to a British mother and an American GI, our hero grows up never knowing his father, who was killed in a car accident when he was only two.

In 1990, a man secretly books a Caribbean cruise for his 25th wedding anniversary with Helen. What begins as a carefully planned holiday turns into something far more lasting.

Back in Puerto Rico, a limousine is waiting for Mr and Mrs Cambray. Seven days at the Condado Plaza follow, and a chance meeting in the hotel pool with Ken and Joyce from Ohio. Letters, visits, and a friendship that outlasts the miles, and in time leads Andy and Charli to each other.

In 1990, the twenty-fifth year of his marriage to Helen, Terry quietly books a fly-cruise on the Cunard Countess. Passports, a tuxedo, and a secret kept until the post has gone. Then Heathrow, Puerto Rico, and a ship that docks at Antigua, Martinique, Barbados and St Thomas, with a midnight feast on the top deck.

Evesham, the holidays, the dogs, and the apartment in Gloucester. What was kept, and what was lost.

The milk round at Elm Farm Dairies in Bourton-on-the-Water. Rats, snow, the carnival, and the cards that were dealt at home.

George Abear, who never charged the rent. Trees, teepees, the News of the World round, and a muddy weekend at Reading.

The band, the courtship, the wedding, and the cottage. Andy’s arrival, and a night with the Ouija board that nobody asked for twice.

Burford Grammar School, the bullying, the river, and Joe. Farm work, and the snow of 1967.

Village characters, the pigs in the street, cider from Shipton, and the horses that knew the way home. The Fox Inn, and a lane that kept its own rules.