1960s. Maggie Wheaton's life is almost perfect. Confident, bright andpopular, she lives with her loving, wealthy parents in a close-knitCambridgeshire village. But, just days after her sixteenth birthday, her worldfalls apart: an accident kills both her parents, and then she suffers theultimate betrayal when she learns a life-changing family secret. Maggie has no choice but to go and live with her appointed guardian, RubyRiordan, in the seaside town of Southend, where she sets out on a deliberatepath of self-destruction. Will Ruby be able to save her from herself, or is itall too little too late?