Perfect

''Tense and engrossing... readers who loved The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry will not be disappointed.'' - Sunday Times

''An instant classic.'' - Daily Express

''You will end up grinning dippily and recommending this wild, searching book to everyone you know.'' - The Times

''Brilliantly realized... a powerful study of grief, loss, guilt, depression, mental illness - and ultimately the power of love - which grips the reader on every page.'' - Daily Mail

Summer, 1972: Two seconds have been added to the Atomic clock so as to counteract the irregularities in the Earth''s rate of rotation. Eleven-year-old Byron has been told this but still struggles to understand. What might it mean? In the claustrophobic heat, he and his friend begin ¿Operation Perfect¿, a hapless mission to rescue Byron¿s mother from impending crisis.

Winter, present day: As frost creeps across the moor, Jim cleans tables in the local caf¿a solitary figure st