Lisa Grankvist arrives in England via boat-train from Calais, carrying a distressing secret along with luggage containing, among other things, her father's tools and teeth. She takes up residence in the swinging London of 1965 and she soon finds her way in the worlds of fashion and music, knitting Mary Quaint-like dresses and sweaters and brushing with the greatness of John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix. She develops a small circle of friends and experiences a life dramatically different from the mean-spirited upbringing visited upon her by an unbalanced and unhappy mother.

By the early 1970s, with the innocent swinging times suddenly over, Lisa marries a Canadian man she believes is kind, gentle, and stable. With him, she emigrates to Canada. But not just Canada - Hamilton. Here, her life is something of an echo of her childhood and adolescence in Sweden; she attracts disapproval from her husband and his family, who find her European ways strange. Again, she develops a small circle of friends, finds a job and eventually leaves behind her husband who has failed to mature beyond the concerns of having enough money for a good stereo system, pizza, and pot.

Just when her life has become predictable - and with a divorced husband who has come to be more present in her life than when they were married - Lisa recognizes a face on a television newscast. It is the face of the son to whom she gave birth thirty years earlier, the secret she kept to herself when arriving in England.
With a deft hand, Britt Holmstrom has created a novel that makes the personal political and the political personal; it has a stunning conclusion that will leave readers with much to ponder.

Brit Holmstrom came to Canada in the 1970s. Her first English language novel, The Man Next Door, won the City of Regina Book Award. Her very first novel, published in Sweden, was based on her year in swinging London. It was optioned for a film. She currently lives in Regina.

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