Thirteen-year-old Cath is a new girl at a Catholic convent. She is afraid of the nuns, unused to the restriction and terrified of God. She finds refuge in nature, and her friend Olive's vision of the starry limitless universe. Cath's sister Very is at art school in seventies Punk London. She lives a wild chaotic life with bedraggled artists, outrageous homosexuals, and shadowy nightclub owners. Cath shares this life when she visits, and the two sisters whirl through the city, along Chelsea Embankment, through the alleys of late-night Soho. But London like the convent holds its dangers - and Cath must find her own way through. Suffused with colour and sensuality, written with a spare, perfectly controlled lyricism, this is an evocative, moving and bittersweet novel from the acclaimed author of The Big House.