Georgie Sinclair's husband has walked out; her sixteen-year-old son is busy surfing born-again websites; and all those overdue articles for Adhesives in the Modern World are getting her down. So when Georgie spots Mrs. Shapiro, an eccentric old Jewish émigré neighbour with an eye for a bargain and a fondness for matchmaking, rummaging through her garbage in the middle of the night, it's just the distraction she needs and a firm friendship is formed over the reduced-price shelf at the supermarket. Then Mrs. Shapiro is admitted to hospital and to Georgie's surprise, she is named as her next of kin. As Georgie steps in to help her new friend sort out her semi-derelict mansion in Highbury, she finds herself unravelling a mystery that takes her from Highbury to wartime Europe to the Middle East, and learning a bit about DIY along the way.