Ten year-old Joby has passed 'the scholarship' and is going to 'the grammer' The summer that should be so happy is clouded by his 'Mam' going into hospital for an operation One thing after another goes wrong the grown-ups fail to see what is happening to him and he tastes the bitterness of injustice Slowly and painfully his innocence is lost and he discovers that the world of adults has its tragedies too A story of working class Yorkshire life set in the 1930s