Set in the post-War summer of 1946 in the north of England and peopled with extraordinary characters, the story centres on the coming of age of three young women in the months between leaving school and taking up their scholarships at university.

There is Una Vane, whose widowed mother runs a hairdressing salon in her front room (Maison Vane Glory - Where Permanent Waves are Permanent). Una goes bicycling with Ray, the boy who delivers the fish and milk.

There's Hetty Fallowes, struggling to become independent of her possessive, loving, tactless mother.

And there is Lise-Lotte Klein, who had arrived in 1939 on a train from Hamburg, uncovers tragedy in the past and magic in the present. Their lives and relationships are evoked with humour, compassion and an eye for detail.