Oxfordshire spring 2006

The day that Minkie’s life began to fall apart started ordinarily enough. She had arranged to meet Mike at three o’clock in the car park opposite the entrance of Banbury’s Spiceball Sports Centre. She had had an hour’s leisurely swim there, part of a new regime to try and rescue her figure that had been in decline since her daughter Branka’s birth nine months earlier. Mike had gone to check some references in the Library.

Minkie had tarried purposely for she knew that once Mike got involved with books he forgot time. It was quarter past the hour when she strolled across to the car park. No Mike. She dumped her swimming things in the boot, relocked the car and slipped through the narrow gap from the car park to the canal side. It was one of her favourite places. A narrow boat was going through the lock with a rather haughty man at the tiller while his wife/partner/girlfriend operated the gates. Once the boat was through he paused to let her back on board. It passed quite close to where Minkie sat on a bench in the spring sunshine. "Hi!" she called, and they nodded distantly. City folk.

When another twenty minutes had passed, she began to fidget. A couple more boats came through the lock. She went back to the car in case Mike had approached from another direction. Then, as she settled back on the seat, she saw him on the other side of the canal heading into one of the entrances of the shopping precinct and looking preoccupied.

"Mike!"she called.

He looked round, hesitated, then crossed the canal to slump down beside her.

"Did you find what you were looking for?"

"No, it ... he vanished into smoke."

"What? I was talking about the references in the library."

"Oh, those."

"Yes, those. "Is something wrong?"

"Not wrong. Just a bit odd."

"What kind of odd?"

"A sort of sense of déjà-vu, without knowing what it related to."

"Who was the ‘he’ who vanished into smoke?"

"That’s the point. I don’t know. He just said ‘Hi’ as our paths crossed in the precinct. I hadn’t a clue who he was, but there was a boy with him - about fifteen - who looked quite familiar."

"Someone from your past? How intriguing."

"Thought I’d catch him up and find out."

She raised her eyebrows. "OK, if it’s that important. Off you go then."

He got up, leaned across to kiss her. "Won’t be long."

But he didn’t come back.


In this final book of the trilogy, Mike has to face his true feelings for his foster daughter, just as dark shadows begin to threaten from his boyhood which was likewise profoundly affected by the wartime experiences of his own father . In pursuing these shadows, Mike finds new relationships that may change his life. Equally, Minkie must face her true feelings for Mike as she, too, finds new relationships that link her to her past. Then there is the pull of Sarajevo, wounded city of her birth as she returns there to try and bring harmony.