When a family already marked by tragedy faces a sudden cascade of misfortune, John Breeze attempts to navigate a fortnight of escalating absurdity. John, a struggling chair-maker, finds his attempts to maintain order thwarted by a series of compounding disasters including professional failure and domestic intrusion. Alongside his father, a railway manager with a penchant for poor officiating, he confronts the randomness of fate with little more than cynical humor and ineffective coping mechanisms. The narrative is presented as a personal account, capturing the frantic, often futile efforts of the Breeze men to exert control over a world that seems determined to dismantle their lives.

This novel is characterized by its sharp, observational wit and its ability to find humor in the face of relentless misfortune. The prose reflects a cynical yet deeply human perspective on the fragility of stability in modern life. Readers likely find the interplay between the protagonist's internal rationalizations and the external chaos to be the primary driver of the narrative's appeal. The work stands as a study in how individuals attempt to construct meaning when faced with the seemingly arbitrary nature of bad luck.