Karen announces that she is giving up her history degree at Oxford (funded by a much-lauded scholarship) to marry Edwin Dodd, a widower and father to three children: Rose (ten), Chas (nine) and Phoebe ('Fob', five).

Antonia Forest originally intended to be a writer of adult novels,[1] and her children's books reflect a range of serious concerns.

The plot reaches an emotional climax as Nicola uses her schoolgirl Latin to describe to Edwin what has happened; Rose herself remains ignorant of the peril she has narrowly escaped.

Elsewhere, Jane Austen, Shakespeare and railways are motifs and a strong impression of Oxford is conveyed as Nicola searches and explores the city.

The fact that Karen's scholarship ('The Prosser') is now free for Kingscote college to re-award becomes a plot strand in the next Marlow book, The Cricket Term.