She touched the violin’s remaining strings. They quivered in fear. After so many decades in the cupboard, they’d forgotten how to sing.

Until now, the house had surrendered few clues to Uncle’s life before he fled Budapest.

The sudden grief floored her. She hadn’t even known he used to play.

Tamsin has started to ask her friends for 50-word commissions, and would like to thank Alison for the “musical instrument in the back of a cupboard” challenge.