The Narrowing Stream — John Clifford Mortimer

Julia Swinton, faithful wife and mother of three young children, harbors a half-acknowledged desire for escape from the thousand obligations and tensions of family life. Then one day, the death of an unknown girl whose relationship with Julia's husband is unexplained, and the appearance of the girl's disturbed but attractive brother, compel Julia to take extraordinary steps to protect her family.

The Narrowing Stream is a beautiful and touching story about a middle-class marriage whose shifts and changes, desires and fears, are sometimes only vaguely understood or felt - and scarcely ever spoken.