THE THINGS WE KEEP

Wychcombe is the sort of place where nothing happens.

A scattering of old houses tucked into the East Sussex countryside. A flint church. One pub. Narrow lanes swallowed by hedgerows. Woods that seem larger after dark. The distant promise of the coast.

And everybody knows everybody.

Eighteen-year-old Eli Mercer has spent his whole life being good.

The preacher's son.

The helpful boy.

The one who never causes trouble, never argues too loudly and has become very good at wanting whatever makes everybody else happy.

Then Jonah Vale comes home.

Nineteen, sharp-witted and carrying the surname behind one of Wychcombe's favourite unfinished conversations, Jonah has been gone for years. Nobody seems particularly pleased to see a Vale living in the old house beyond the woods again.

Eli is fascinated by him.

Jonah asks questions nobody else does.

What music does Eli actually like?

Where would he go if he could leave tomorrow?

What would he choose if nobody could be disappointed?

And why does Eli apologise for everything?

One walk becomes another.

Then midnight drives.

Terrible cups of tea.

Secret kisses.

The sea after dark.

For the first time, Eli begins imagining a life beyond the church bells and familiar lanes of Wychcombe.
University.

Freedom.

Being openly gay.

Growing into somebody he has not met yet.

And perhaps having Jonah beside him while he does.

But Jonah knows better than most that people change.

People leave.

Things disappear.

And some losses create spaces nothing else can ever quite fill.

In the summer of 1998, two boys fall desperately in love.

And somewhere between wanting someone beside you and needing them never to leave, love can become something neither of them recognises.
Because there are things we remember.

Things we lose.

And things we try far too hard to keep.