The Voyage Home

When Anne Harrington decides to return from her father's burial by ship, she is advised against it. The journey from Nigeria back to England is too long, she is warned: better to return to her old routine as quickly as possible. But Anne is not quite alone: she has her father's belongings and, more particularly, his diaries from his time in Africa. In 1962 Anne's parents, Miriam and David, had made the opposite journey, arriving in Nigeria to work in a mission in the east of the country. David's diary charts the dramatic events that lead to the collapse of their marriage and his ejection from the mission, and his subsequent role as an aid worker in the Biafran war. For Anne, meanwhile, the voyage home is not turning out to be the haven of solitude she is hoping for. Deep inside the ship a stowaway seeks her out and leads her to his sick wife. Though Anne promises not to reveal their existence to the crew, if she does not find help one of them may die.