This novel opens with a woman in a prison cell but it is not until the very last pages that we learn how she got there. The writing is very good, well-paced, strong and evocative. We learn about her affair as a very young girl, with a married man, but Glaister transcends the conventions with her adroit characterisations which allow for eccentricity and for the depth of feeling she can encompass. There is little that is predictable in this most predictable of situations, but it does become a salutary warning along the way, though I am not sure what the moral might be, or even if there is one. As pure story, it is electrifyingly readable, however, and full of life and feeling, as she moves easily between the modern day story and that of an ancestor of the protagonist who was deported to Australia for attempting to steal a peacock. Glaister's measured, clear, persuasive prose makes this a compelling read.