Fanny McBride was a large, cheerful, indomitable Tyneside widow with a large, cheerful family. When she reached her fifties, she began to feel, for the first time in her life, a little lonely. All but one of her sons and daughters had married and left home, leaving her with spare time on her hands.

Being a woman of resource, Fanny took on a job at the local 'Ladies', which was to prove a surprisingly stimulating experience.

Another new interest was the arrival of some rather odd neighbours at Malhattan's Hall, the tenement block which was Fanny's home. Then ... Read morethere was her long-standing feud with Mrs Flannagan, the problem of the favourite child's unsuitable marriage, and the puzzle of Fanny's one unmarried son, who was far from being a typical McBride . . .