Grandmother's Footsteps begins on the day the Second World War ends, seen through the eyes of the bewildered young Ruth. Mesmerised and terrified by the break-up of the wartime world she is so used to, scared by her mother's disappearance to London in search of their absent father, she clings to the familiar world of her grandmother. Stick by me, Granny tells her, and you'll be all right. But already Ruth's exuberant mother has other plans for the family - a move to London and a succession of wild schemes that bring constant change and upheaval, opening and closing new horizons and leaving young Ruth feeling always - as the years go by - adrift.

Except, that is, in the safe, sure haven of her grandmother's life.