Checkmate

In 1948 Melita Jory ran away with a stranger and was not heard of again. In Polwithian, Cornwall, strangers are always noticed. So when an unknown man arrives in the village, enquiring about the Jory family, still living on the farm that has been theirs for decades, and Melita in particular, the news spreads until it eventually comes to the attention of Silas Jory himself, Melita's abandoned husband. Still living with the consequences of Melita's disappearance, Silas meets with the stranger to discover his purpose. Eighteen years is a long enough time for scars to heal, but the stranger has not come to Polwithian without purpose and the effects of his presence ripple throughout the quiet community. Old wounds feel newly painful, and long forgotten ambitions resurface, disrupting everyone's lives and bringing about unwanted changes . . .