This double volume covers the years from Naomi Mitchison's birth in 1897 to the end of World War I. Her Edwardian childhood in Oxford and Scotland, the academic and intellectual background of her family life and early schooling set the scene.
The second half of the book deals with the development of her very personal thoughts and ideas during her teenage years and, as she grew to womanhood, the beginning of her relationship with her future husband, Dick. All this takes place against the backdrop of war-torn Europe and her realization that writing was to be a focal point in her future life.