The novel is divided into chapters each covering the same few months but centring on the life of one of seven working-class women living the area of Union Street in northeastern England.

The characters range in age and circumstance, Alice Bell is in her seventies and dying whereas Kelly Brown is eleven,[2] but all of them face struggles and poverty.

When the people on the street find out about her rape they will not deal with it openly with her; instead, they react with general sympathy, in the way they would have if she had been ill, but both the adults and children talk about the incident behind her back.

As time passes Kelly's silence turns to anger, responding to the trauma of the events with acts of rebellion and violence, such as cutting her hair short and breaking the windows of a school.

[9] This opinion was backed up by the responses she received which centered on the book being too bleak and depressing[9] In 1978 Barker took part in a writers' workshop run by the Arvon Foundation at Lumb Bank near Heptonstall and met author Angela Carter.