A Quiet Winter

An exclusive short story by award-winning author Isabel Ashdown.Two years after her father's death, Sarah Ribbons prepares to spend the festive season on her own in his crumbling old cottage. It's not the idea of being alone that bothers her – she's determined not to be a burden on well-meaning friends who try to coax her into joining them for Christmas – in fact, Sarah thinks she has life as she likes it: firmly under control. But when an unexpected email raises the ghosts of a distant past, she finds herself questioning this way of life – and discovers friendship in the least likely of places.