Summer, 1972: In the claustrophobic heat, eleven-year-old Byron and his friend begin `Operation Perfect', a hapless mission to rescue Byron's mother from impending crisis. Winter, present day: As frost creeps across the moor, Jim cleans tables in the local cafe, a solitary figure struggling with OCD.
In 1972, two seconds are added to time. In the same year, two boys are catapulted by a catastrophic event onto very different paths. The two events fuse together in Byron Hemming's ten-year-old mind to leave the all-consuming question: was the addition of time to blame? From the author of THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE OF HAROLD FRY comes an incredible novel about the destructive nature of perfection.
