Gripping, insightful and deft, THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US by Maggie O''Farrell is a haunting story of the way our families shape our lives, from the award-winning author of HAMNET. It was a Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller 2004 and won the Somerset Maugham Award.On a cold February afternoon, Stella catches sight of a man she hasn''t seen for many years, but instantly recognises. Or thinks she does. At the same moment on the other side of the globe, in the middle of a crowd of Chinese New Year revellers, Jake realises that things are becoming dangerous.They know nothing of one another''s existence, but both Stella and Jake flee their lives: Jake in search of a place so remote it doesn''t appear on any map, and Stella for a destination in Scotland, the significance of which only her sister, Nina, will understand.