This novel should come with a small warning. For readers living with someone who has dementia, it may prove a little close for comfort; but for others it will be a satisfying love story.

Evelyn Parker has lived aboard an ocean liner with her husband, a retired ship’s doctor, for 20 years; and before that spent many years travelling the world with him on various ships. When she steps onto the liner after its regular turnaround, it is her 662nd cruise aboard that ship, with her cabin full of mementos from years of cruising. But Evelyn seems to have misplaced Henry, her husband. It becomes obvious that she is not just eccentric, but confused; and has major memory problems.

Her recollection of meeting Henry aboard a liner when she travelled from the UK to start a new life in Australia is crystal clear; as is her recall of the works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge; and the teachings of Florence Nightingale from her nursing training.

Readers may find the plot slow paced, but that’s life aboard a cruise ship. And it allows Evelyn to find new friends who look after her; as well as crew members who seem united in protecting her as she roams the ship with her handbag stuffed with everything from a tiara to a teacake.

She continually searches for Henry, remembering the highs and lows of their long marriage, but the dramatic ending of the novel will provide a surprise for readers who thought they’d worked it out in advance.

Reviewed by Jennifer Somerville