This is a short-story collection (15 stories), with varied settings, voices and appeal to age-groups, although the strongest readership probably the biggest one for fiction: women 35-60. Settings mainly in a neglected corner of Wales: the north-east looking towards Liverpool, plus one story set in Liverpool and one on the north American frontier. A few bring in historical themes and one is set in colonial America. The major theme is power balance at the point that one party takes control: the narrative usually favours men over women. Class conflict is there too but understated. Also nature resisting our attempts to control it, and fatherhood. The whole collection has a rural and small-town feel, reflecting the reality of lives of probably the majority living here and certainly the majority of fiction-readers. It is gentle but certainly not soft: it is sophisticated and perceptive. Sex is quite raunchy in places. Imagery is particularly powerful and is used in a way similar to Jo Mazelis but possibly with more depth. Her control of how much information to include and its timing is excellent.
