THE STORY SO FAR
In post-war Hampshire, teenager Bunny falls for Karel, a Czech refugee working on her father Leo’s farm. Amateur artist Karel gifts Bunny a scarlet pebble bearing the outline of a rabbit. To escape a disapproving Leo, Bunny and Karel flee to Southampton to sail to South Africa. However, Karel vanishes soon after they arrive. Bunny learns that he boarded a ship to New York, abandoning her. Dazed, she bumps into her father, who has tracked her down. She agrees to return to the farm, giving her pebble to a little girl in the street. Years later, artist Clare arrives in Tollington to paint a mural in the town hall. She shows Peter, the editor of the local newspaper, a pebble given to her mum as a child by a stranger – a woman. Clare suspects the woman came from Tollington, and longs to trace her. Peter shows Clare a photo his dad took of a young man. On the back is written, 1947. The pebble painter.
HAMPSHIRE, 2002
Clare had already sent instructions to Tollington town hall about preparing the selected wall for her mural. It would cover a wall in the lobby facing the public as they entered the building, and had already been checked for bumps and cracks, washed down and given a coat of primer.
She arrived on her first full day to find sheets and step ladders in position.
But for her next stage, she would need help, she admitted to Peter, popping into his office mid-morning. ‘I’ll paint straight onto the wall,’ she explained. ‘But