A touching story about a little boy who lives on his own with his working mother, illustrated by Michael Foreman. Whenever he is naughty, a young boy's mother threatens him with Mrs Cole, who appears to be a disreputable character living nearby in total squalor. He imagines children being starved, whipped and even stewed. Then one day he runs away from home and despite his fears, finds himself outside Mrs Cole's house. She invites him in and he discovers that Mrs Cole's noisy, chaotic kindly house is welcoming and warm and her house becomes somewhere to go when he is good.