In Touch

'These characters, with all their fuck ups, are wonderfully endearing and earnest, always striving to be decent, to get past their meannesses and fears, longing to love and be loved. And the secret of the book . . . it sort of broke my heart' HELEN GARNER, AUTHOR OF HOW TO END A STORY

Carla and Ewan meet at a time when mobile phones and the internet are new, only somewhat understood. A fragile but real relationship begins to develop between them. Can they stay in touch in a world of distant, virtual communication? And what happens when online intimacy collides with the real thing?

Years later, ten-year-old Gus Okin isn't sure why her parents broke up - or, for that matter, how they ever got together in the first place. On the face of things, elegant, self-assured Carla and clumsy Ewan couldn't be more different - one a cosmopolitan Londoner, the other a difficult ex-investigative reporter, now holed up in rural Scotland.

Across a summer holiday spent with both parents, Gus undertakes an investigation of her own: to find out the truth of their relationship and understand her place in the world.