A novel of urban deceit and rural passion, of doctors, witches, birth and death.

`Many people dream of country cottages. Liffey dreamed for many years, and saw her dream come true one hot Sunday afternoon, in Somerset, in September... A trap closed around her. The getting of the country cottage, not the wanting - that was the trap.'

Richard and Liffey, a young married couple, follow their dream of moving out of London to a country cottage in the middle of Somerset. Richard continues to live and work in London, coming to stay with Liffey only on weekends.

Pregnant Liffey feels burdened, hampered, at the mercy of these biological impulses beyond her control.

Then there are the odd neighbours, the Tuckers, to reckon with, and the looming shadow of Bella, Richard's lover in London, threatening the rural idyll Liffey had for so long imagined.

With wit and wisdom, Fay Weldon paints a funny and shocking picture of the conflicts within these seemingly conventional lives, conflicts which seem inevitably to stem from the eternal struggle between male and female.