Great'ma was brought back to her Granddaughter's house as she was thought to be dying. She recovers and we live with the rich treasures of her memory, and her perception of the ages she has lived through. Four generations are depicted in the novel and these live and breathe through the writing. Her great grandson, Jeffrey, finds notebooks she wrote during her life, and the relationship between them develops in these pages. Her character becomes clearer as we follow this in the novel, and, also as we experience her interchange with the family around her This is an author who has an affinity with Jane Austen in her ability to bring character so to life.