Some beautiful writing in parts, but overall this didn’t add much to the ‘parent dealing with bereavement’ genre. A lot of elements seemed to be pretty standard, almost over-used. Especially Agnes the village wise-woman, who is just innately connected to nature and was apparently born wiser and more intelligent than everyone else. Plus I’m not a fan of the ‘no bond is stronger than that of mother and child’ trope. I’m guessing most of the members of the 2020 Women’s Prize judging panel are parents.