After experiencing the chaos of the French Resistance, a young woman struggles to integrate into the rigid, austere society of post-war London. Barbary Deniston, uprooted from her life in Provence, finds herself under the guardianship of her father and stepmother in a city still reeling from the Blitz. She rejects the conventional expectations of her new environment, seeking solace in the ruins of the city. The narrative explores her internal conflict as she attempts to reconcile her traumatic, lawless past with the demands of a structured, recovering society.

This novel is widely regarded as a poignant examination of the psychological aftermath of conflict on the younger generation. Critics often highlight the author's ability to juxtapose the physical destruction of London with the internal disorientation of the protagonist. The work is frequently praised for its sharp, unsentimental prose and its nuanced portrayal of the moral ambiguity inherent in wartime survival. Readers often note that the book serves as a significant cultural artifact of the immediate post-war period in Britain. The narrative remains a study of how individuals attempt to find meaning in the wreckage of their own histories.