The story opens when Eva Beaver’s twin children leave home to go to university. Feeling unappreciated, exhausted by her domestic routine and the lack of any recognition of her efforts, Eva simply climbs into her bed — fully dressed and with her shoes on — and refuses to get up.

What begins as a brief protest turns into a decision to stay in bed for a full year.

From that fixed point of repose, the novel explores what happens when someone stops being the person everyone wants them to be.

At the moment the twins leave, Eva realises she can no longer tolerate the ceaseless chores, the invisibility of her role and the way she has put aside her own identity.

She climbs into bed, thinking it might be a short break — but the comfort, the release, and the realisation of her own exhaustion prompt her to stay.

Meanwhile Brian is thrown into chaos: the house still needs upkeep, meals must be cooked, the world notices Eva’s refusal to conform.

Eva becomes an object of public fascination. Some think her action is a protest; others believe she has special powers. The media and public attention mount.

Through the course of her year in bed, Eva reflects on her life, her marriage, her identity, and how little of her self‑worth had been independent of being wife and mother.

She slowly redefines her relationship with Brian, the twins, with Alexander, and with her own sense of freedom.

The novel ends with Eva having changed – not simply surviving the year, but seeing her life differently and renegotiating what comes next.