Twickenham is the childhood home of Emma Corrigan and the former home of her parents, Emma's Mother and Emma's Father. The family later moved from London to a village in Hampshire, but Twickenham remains the setting associated with Emma's early family life and the memories she revisits after that move.

Family Home and Change of Setting

Emma's Mother and Emma's Father used to live in Twickenham, where Emma grew up. By the time Emma visits them for her mother's birthday, they have left London for a village in Hampshire. Kerry and her husband, Nev, have also moved to a nearby village, about five minutes away by car, and see Emma's parents frequently. The family’s changed address places Twickenham in the past, while the account of the visit shows how its former household has been reshaped by later moves and relationships.

Childhood Memories

Twickenham is linked to Emma's recollection of growing up with her parents. Among old photographs, she sees herself at about nine, sitting on her father's knee on a park bench while eating an ice cream, with her mother beside them. Another photograph shows the three of them laughing together. The pictures prompt Emma to remember a time when the family consisted of just the three of them; the text does not identify the park as being in Twickenham, but the memories belong to the childhood period she associates with the place.

That sense of an earlier family life is complicated by Kerry's arrival. Emma remembers a red suitcase in the hall and encountering Kerry, then a stranger to her, in the kitchen. Because Kerry's mother had died, Emma's parents urged Emma to be kind to her, and Kerry was given Emma's room. In another memory, Emma recalls wanting to imitate Kerry so intensely that she agreed the local park was boring, and the family stopped going there. These recollections give the childhood setting an emotional history: it is remembered not only through the intimacy of the photographs, but also through the changes that followed Kerry's entry into the household.

Later Journey and Narrative Significance

After Emma's parents had moved to their new house, Emma once boarded the wrong train on her way to visit and ended up in Salisbury. Her father continues to tease her about the detour when she arrives safely for the birthday visit. The incident distinguishes the family's present home from the place where Emma grew up, while keeping the earlier journey and its mistake alive in family conversation.

Twickenham therefore functions as a point of origin in Emma's family history rather than the setting of the birthday visit itself. Its importance emerges through contrast: the remembered closeness of Emma, her mother, and her father in the photographs; the disruption and accommodation associated with Kerry's arrival; and the later move away from London. The place anchors a childhood that Emma recalls with affection, but those memories also reveal how belonging within the family changed over time.