Born in a woodland pond and raised in a hippie commune, Curly Oswald is the ultimate outsider, unhindered by conventional schooling or any administrative ties with the wicked System. Now, confined to hospital following a near-fatal accident, he tells the story of his younger self and extended `family', as they grapple with problems ranging from eco-friendly slug control to the mischief of a power-hungry guru.
An extraordinary chronicle of a lifestyle both alternative yet remarkably viable, a microcosm of eccentricity, comedy and occasional grotesque tragedy, it is told with the unflinching eye of a child and the sympathy of a narrator who sees the humour as well as the horror of life in all its deranged glory.