From the author of The Facts of Life comes a cunning mix of tragedy and comedy, featuring one man's journey to self-discovery. * As befits the hero of a modern fairy tale, Lawrence Frost has neither father nor siblings, and fits so awkwardly into his worldly mother's life, he might have dropped from the sky. Like many such a hero, he grows up happier with plants than people. Whilst he is straightforward, honest, and a doting dad, he can be a difficult, taciturn husband -- but he's the last person one would suspect of being a killer... * Waking one morning to find himself branded a wife-beater and under suspicion of murder, his small world falls apart as he loses wife, daughter, liberty, livelihood and, almost, his mind... * With a bold mixture of tragicomedy, harsh truth and sublime fantasy, Patrick Gale has created a vivid and compelling portrait of a man at odds with himself, and an extended family of friends and lovers trying to take its proper shape.