The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell

In the 1950s, Lexie abandons rural Devon for Soho and her married lover. In the present day, Elina, an artist, and her partner, Ted, struggle with work and parenthood. Gradually the links between these complex lives are teased out. The narration and the insights into fraught relationships are engaging, but something seems to have been lost in the abridgement. The characters needed a more leisurely development to make the listener really care.