'I was running on happily because it was so good to be able to watch him under cover of my own talk, knowing exactly now what I wanted of him - mind, body, everything'

Lallie is one of four children of the eccentric, quintessentially English Rush family. Boating, bird watching and inter-family rivalry are the focus of life in their village - Pin Mill, on the Suffolk marshes. Brought up on fair play and the 'family sense of humour' the Rush children soon learn to fend for themselves - on water and on dry land. We watch as Lallie grows to adulthood; loving and hating her 'ordinary' family, carving a space for herself in the shadow of her beautiful sister Margaret, who claims the lion's share of everything. But Lallie is special too, clear, clear-sighted, sexually aware. Just as well, for to keep the man she loves she faces the biggest family fight of all...