At nineteen, christine is happy working in a bakery, hanging out with a succession of rough lads and battling with her indomitable mother, Margaret. When Margaret tries to set her daughter up with a nice young bank clerk, Christine is initially repelled by the idea. But when she falls prgnant after a visit to a safari park, she is forced into a shotgun marriage--to Michael, the clerk.

Christine gives birth to twins, Jude and Jess, and life seems alright for a while. But the house is not a good place to grow up in: there are too many secrets, too much swearing and shouting. And the twins become increasingly strange: Jude is quiet, creepily passive, and Jess is a foul-mouthed troublemaker. Immersed in their own private world, their violent games end in tragedy . . .

Rich with forbidden sex, long held secrets, and deep emotional ties, MODERN LOVE is a page-turning generational saga with a difference.