A woman related to my memoir so much, she offered to lend me her holiday shack. When we met in person, we couldn’t stop talking

• Find the rest of our series of stories on the kindness of strangers here

The email landed in my inbox late one Friday night in the middle of winter, 2023.

I was not cheerful. For weeks, I’d been wrestling with a difficult article I should long ago have submitted to an editor. As a freelancer, the longer I spent on it, the longer it would be before another cent would hit my bank account. I’d been to the dentist that morning. I’d booked a vet appointment for my dog that afternoon; I feared she might have yet another ear infection.