Maggie Pool's long and distinguished teaching career as Head of English at Layters Girls School is seriously threatened when a new member of staff is appointed and a teacher in her department embarks on a love affair with one of his students. Maggie's memories of this affair and the tragic consequences for all who become involved are triggered when she receives an unexpected letter many years after her retirement from teaching.A contemporary story of forbidden love is also closely entwined with one from our literary past in this novel about ideological conflict and the power of imagination in the world of love, literature and education.