It is 1953 in Canvey Island and Len and Auntie Vi are dancing, while Uncle George sits and watches, his mind still fighting a war that has been over for nearly a decade. Back at home Len's wife Lily and their small son Martin are fighting for their lives in a raging black torrent. In the years that follow the flood, Len turns to Vi for comfort. As Martin grows older he feels estranged from them both, overshadowed by guilt in this deeply moving novel charting the changing world of post-war Britain as seen through one family's tragedy and loss.

... the novel is so engaging, so well-shaped and so unsparingly, generously truthful' - Jim Crace