The year is 1937 and this is the story of David Denby, an eleven-year-old boy from East Yorkshire. As military and diplomatic tensions escalate in Europe, David Denby wins a scholarship to his local grammar school. He quickly settles in to school life – his teachers immediately recognising his natural, academic potential. Then, on the very day Britain finally declares war with Germany, personal tragedy strikes at the heart of David and his family.
Man Of The House spans the rest of David’s life – following him as he must abandon his academic ambition, take on new responsibilities and then as he conscripts in the final months of the war, and how all of these events overshadow and disrupt the simple life he longs for.