The novel revolves around five idiosyncratic characters in Brighton, at a time when everybody talks about the decline in English society. Paula, daughter of Polish immigrants, who dreams of spending her life with Thomas, a charismatic American scientist living near the Taconic Mountains; Marion, a complicated angel who enjoys looking after old people and doing a bit shop-lifting; Jim, a bohemian beat poet, traumatized by nuclear testing on Christmas Island and in love with Marion, Tung, a Malaysian ex-serviceman also in love with Marion; and Harold, an ex-rock singer who escapes his upper-class background and wants to marry Paula. Ana Ingham, the multi award author of 16 novels, three poetry collections (under different names) and eight plays shown at Brighton Fringe and at Midtown International Theatre Festival in New York, lives in Brighton and in New York. She believes her writing contains universal truths.
