Harriett Frean is a woman so afraid of life that she will eventually talk herself out of living it. The novel follows Harriet as she is raised to be the ideal Victorian woman. Harriett is proud of her self-sacrifice but when she falls in love with her best friend's fiancé she is forced to question everything she thought she knew. Having decided not to follow her heart Harriett spends the rest of her life trying to convince herself that she has donethe right thing. Described as a "small, perfect gem of a book" by author Jonathan Coe.