A trip to Florence with her friend Amy is a bright spot in Miss Read's retirement; Henry Mawne's complaints about his new wife and John Jenkins' persistent offers of marriage are not.

"Edgar Hopkins is a retired math teacher in his mid-fifties with a strong sense of self-importance, whose greatest pride in life is winning poultry breeding contests. When not meticulously caring for his Bantam, Edgar is an active member of the British Lunar Society. Thanks to that affiliation, Edgar becomes one of the first people to learn the moon is on a collision course, headed towards Earth. Members of the society are sworn to secrecy but eventually...

Tullivers, the former home of old Admiral Trigg and his sister Lucy, had stood empty for many months. Then, one bright April day, two newcomers move in -- an attractive young woman and her son -- and the villagers begin to show their interest and attention, especially several bachelors.

"Blackwood Bay. An ordinary place, home to ordinary people. It used to be a buzzing seaside destination. But now, ravaged by the effects of dwindling tourism and economic downturn, it's a ghost town - and the perfect place for film-maker Alex to shoot her new documentary. But the community is deeply suspicious of her intentions. After all, nothing exciting ever happens in Blackwood Bay - or does it?"--Provided by publisher.

A teenage girl has gone missing. The whole community has been called upon to join the search. And now an interviewer arrives, intent on capturing the community's unstable stories about life in the weeks and months before Becky Shaw vanished. Each villager has a memory to share or a secret to conceal, a connection to Becky that they are trying to make or break. A young wife pushes against the boundaries of her marriage, and another seeks a means of...