Even as a little boy, Eric Bovin wonders how God can really exist in a world where he allows terrible things to happen. As he grows up, his own life, as he painfully discovers, is beset by overwhelming tragedy and grief. And yet...he survives and even finds happiness and fulfilment. How, he comes to wonder, can a life be both happy and sad, both charmed and cursed?

This is the central theme of this quietly moving novel tracing the story of a working man across seven decades—from his difficult, troubled childhood in wartime, through his youth as a farm labourer and his maturity as a successful businessman and loving husband and father, to his rediscovery of self and family after devastating loss in his final, declining years.

Set against the urban sprawl of England's north-west and the idyllic landscapes and villages of the surrounding countryside, this heartfelt novel will strike a chord with every reader.

Brian Stanyer was born in the small Cheshire village of Great Barrow, where his father's family had lived for over 100 years. He went, initially, to the village school and then to the King's School in the city of Chester. Later he studied Economics, Accountancy and Commercial Law at Manchester College of Commerce.

Brian now lives in Stockport with his wife and has three sons and seven grandchildren.