Sarah Carpenter lives alone in an isolated house on the Yorkshire moors. Since the departure of her children and the lingering death of her husband after an accident, her only company has been her two dogs.

All that changes, however, when Sarah rents out her spare cottage to an old college flame, Aiden, who is moving to the area to set up some vaguely defined franchise. Aiden seems interested in rekindling their previous relationship, but he has a few secrets he is trying to keep hidden, and Sarah is holding on tightly to a couple of hard truths without actually facing up to them.

Meanwhile Will, an old friend of Sarah’s estranged son, comes back to the area and begins a relationship with Sarah’s best friend. But he also starts insinuating himself into Sarah’s life. Sarah tries to rekindle a relationship with her son, but he reacts badly and she finds herself caught between her confused relationships with both Aiden and Will and her own secrets, questioning every move she makes and every move they make. Winter begins closing in on the moors as Sarah struggles to figure out exactly where the threat she feels hanging over her is coming from.

Never Alone is a predictable but diverting story of a woman in romantic and physical peril. It remains engaging throughout, despite the predictability of many of the plot twists and Sarah’s profound lack of self-awareness, which is quite frustrating at times. The ending, when it arrives, feels just a bit too easy, which sums up the book as a whole; there are no hard angles, quirks or elements that might have made it really good.

Reviewed by Tessa Chudy