There are few blithe spirits left in this burdened world, but Shirley Deane is one of them. Who else would find herself in Andorra, because her son's eye was caught by a minute and unlettered spot on a map? And, who, at the summons of her artist husband, would pick up and head for the sun-drenched Balearics (Ibiza to be exact) because of the chance offer to run a pig farm?

On the death of her father, Denham Dobie is forced to leave her wild and carefree life in Spain and is thrust into the gossiping highbrow circle of her well-meaning relatives in London. Thrown into a world of publishers and writers, this awkward young woman sees their society for the self-absorbed, self-satisfied world it is and offers a devastating, and very funny, social commentary within her own moving story.