It is 1954 and the women of a Scottish mining community are poised to take it forward into the second half of the twentieth century with or without help from their men. This year in the life of three couples exposes their facades and their secrets, their capacity to change and to bring about change in others. It portrays three very different marriages (and six very different people) and goes behind closed doors, exploring dark themes of loss, exploitation and prejudice but also bright themes of love, friendship, release and fulfilment. The women have to struggle with the strangleholds of tradition and religion. But they do it in a way that will have you laughing out loud and occasionally wiping away a tear. Sometimes it seems as if only a miracle can help them. But when the clock strikes twelve on Hogmanay, everyone is in for a surprise . . . Set in postwar Britain, a time of great change, this is a sensitive, humorous novel with wonderful characters and an intriguing, hopeful ending.