In a London street at the turn of the twenty-first century, two neighbours start to chat over the heads of their children.

Kate Clanchy is a writer, privileged and sheltered. Antigona is a refugee from Kosovo. On instinct, Kate offers Antigona a job as a nanny, and Antigona accepts. Over the next five years and a thousand cups of coffee Antigona's extraordinary story slowly emerges. She has escaped from a war, she has divorced a violent husband, but can she escape the harsh code she was brought up with?

At the kitchen table where anything can be said, the women discover they have everything, as well as nothing, in common.

An absolutely wonderful book. - Deborah Moggach