'Mavis was born within the sounds of Bow Bells. Mavis liked to think they rang in her birth. "Pu-ush!" Her head butting blind and bloody into this wide and wondrous world.'How wide and wondrous, how puzzling and joyful, challenging and dismaying she would discover as she went through childhood, adolescence, marriage, and sought to find her true self. What were the circumstances of her conception?Who was her father?Who were the women who came to the door and from whom she had to be hidden?Did her favourite aunt commit murder?How is she to square reality with dreams of romance?The search for answers makes an intriguing and compelling story told with pace in precise and vigorous prose, not a word wasted.The characters, the situations are specific and perused from differing viewpoints, but the themes are timeless and will stir memory and reflection moving readers to see afresh their own experiences.