These five linked stories immerse readers in the turbulent, disturbing and sometimes hilarious misadventures and rivalries of Catholic schoolboys in late 20th century Liverpool—Stephpen Mattimore, the boy who tries to play by the rules; his rebellious and scornful classmates who torment their cassocked teachers; the misfit who runs the campus sundries shop. Death, lurking in the title story, whether sudden or anticipated, alters everyone. Outside the confining Cathedral College flows "the inky black waters of the Mersey, opaque to the point of invisibility, like the dark unwritten page of [Stephen's] future."