Since the death of her husband, Ruth Chapman has lived an increasingly lonely life, despite her job in the university. Her son lives away, she has just one person she might call a friend and certainly no lover, not after what she has learned about Frank since he died. But the arrival of a temporary ice-skating rink outside her window one November morning begins to change her life in ways that she could never have guessed. A literally accidental meeting with Jean, its enigmatic French owner, leads her to question her ideas about the meaning of her twenty five years of marriage, about men and about relationships in the future. By the time the rink leaves The Close, the ancient square of green outside her city centre flat, her life could be heading in an entirely new direction. This novel is an exploration of one character’s thoughts and feelings – sensation-seekers should download elsewhere.