This memoir of Margaret Wyles’s childhood in the industrial valleys of south Wales and in rural Ceredigion is also a family saga revolving around the trials of three generations of Wyles's family. It focuses on intergenerational rivalry and relationships, all seen from the perspective of a child. The narrative is enhanced by the use of excerpts from real letters, lending an adult perspective against which the child narrator’s outlook is contrasted. A book about families, work practices, rural customs, and relationships, this memoir offers a unique account of a lost era, funny and tender, yet never shrinking from the hardships of everyday life.