Betty Hooper retires from a long and achieving career in teaching. This is earlier than she had expected but her life is being made uncomfortable by Headteacher Mrs Goodheart. The book explores the life she lives with Kenneth, cross dressing ex tax man, and Bertrand ever in search of love, who pays the bills with voice overs, (until the fourth member of the family joins them, this being Victor, the new owner of the launderette downstairs). This is a real family, a stronger family than many conventional versions, and the love and the support take Betty from retirement, to living her life. The love that the four have four eachother is the strongest thread in this story of experience and adventure based against a backdrop of Betty's deteriorating health.

Tom Wakefield brings his usaul brilliance of observation and commitment to the lives of those usuallly considered ordinary, and shows us all how extraordinary these characters are. He proves once and for all that there are families not necessarily based around a mother, father and children. His contribution to gay fiction is to be celebrated. He writes fiction which includes gay characters as they are; part of the world, just like everyone else, and with a strong sense of understanding that familes are made up in many different ways. I don't imagine that Tom ever set out to be a liberationist, but he was, and as a reader and a friend I am eternally grateful for this.