Janni Howker

Five absorbing stories set in the north-west of England. Meet cussed, rebellious Miss Brady, who lives with a badger on a barge; the reviled old shepherd, Reicker; Sally Beck, a topiary gardener with an extraordinary past; the reclusive Egg Man; proudly independent Jakey... and the young people whose lives they profoundly affect.

On the moors above Haverston, an unknown beast is attacking livestock, and Haverston itself is threatened by another beast - the threat of unemployment - as the local mill is about to close...