Peter Aitken (now Adams), the first murderer to stand trial in England after the abolition of the death penalty in 1965, was released from prison after serving 17 years - the longest sentenced served in recent times by any prisoner who has been released. This book tells how his relationship with a woman, the writer Shirley Cooklin, now his wife, whom he first met when she visited him in prison, affected his release, and how they faced the disappointment of repeated knockbacks by the Parole Board.