Born in 1938, Iris spent her early years playing in the rubble of bombed buildings by day and cowering in a dusty shelter by night.  But the hardships of poverty and the dreaded Blitz could not match the pain she felt at her parents' indifference to her.  Finding the nurturing home she had always dreamt of with her adopted Welsh parents, she wonders what, when she returns to London after the war, will be waiting for her.  Will she ever be able to love her philandering father, depressive mother, and bullying brother?  Will her family even survive?