Fanny Pye's London house, bought for a song many years earlier, is now worth a small fortune. When she intervenes in a street brawl and is hospitalised, her children tactfully suggest that she move to the suburbs, coincidently releasing some useful 'family money'. Fanny has different views about inheritance and property and is anyway more concerned that she cannot properly remember the events of that night which ended in the death of a stranger. Then, as her amnesia clears, she is overwhelmed by a terrible sense of danger.
Nina Bawden (1925-2012), CBE, was one of Britain's most distinguished and best-loved novelists, both for adults and children (Peppermint Pig and Carrie's War being among her most famous books for young people). She has published over forty novels and an autobiography, In My Own Time. She was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Circles of Deceit and her novel Family Money was filmed by Channel 4, starring Claire Boom and June Whitfield. In 2004 she received the S. T. Dupont Golden Pen Award for a Lifetime's Contribution to Literature.