'Delicious... Gorgeously written, full of teasing observations about love, class and cookery'
Kate Saunders, The Times

In the summer of 1936, the world is on the cusp of change, but there's little sign of it in rural Sussex. So when local girl Kitty Allen answers an advert looking for a 'good plan cook', she has no idea what she's letting herself in for.

Her employer is champagne socialist Ellen Steinberg who believes in Marx and sunbathing in the nude. Her eleven-year-old daughted, Geenie, is a bright, unhappy thing, and Mrs Steinberg's lover, George Crane is said to be a poet - though he doesn't have a beard or write much poetry.

Ellen imagines that George spends his days creating their love story, but his attention lies elsewhere. As the heat rises through the long summer, the dream begins to fall apart.

'A subtly witty study of class and tensions and general human folly' Elizabeth Lowry, Guardian

'A beautifully observed portrait' Eithne Ferry Daily Mail