The Riders by Tim Winton

Fred Scully waits at the arrival gate of an international airport, anxious to see his wife and seven-year-old daughter. After two years in Europe they are finally settling down. He sees a new life before them, a stable outlook, and a cottage in the Irish countryside that he’s renovated by hand. He’s waited, sweated on this reunion. He does not like to be alone – he’s that kind of man. The flight lands, the glass doors hiss open, and Scully’s life begins to go down in flames. This is a story of a marriage in our time.