To the citizens of Arkenshaw, Yorkshire, Mr and Mrs Alfred Baker and their twelve foster children represent the ideal family, respected for their closeness and mutual concern. When seventeen-year-old Joe Baker fatally assaults his father, barrister Antony Maitland finds himself with a new client—a tight-lipped one at that. The bleak industrial town of Arkenshaw is not unfamiliar territory to Maitland, and as he begins to look for the motive that led to his young client’s murderous act, he finds himself enmeshed in the tight-knit society of the town, its gossip, and its unwillingness to face the whispered-about activities of its younger generation. (Publisher’s description)