A collection of raw and moving poems, the book charts the decline of a relationship that is often abusive, with the speaker working their way through not only the loss of love, but also the shock and awe of a partner becoming coercive and controlling.

The poems balance the struggle to maintain one's self in such an environment, while also attempting to present a unified and happy front to the outside world, through a combination of invigorating imagery and use of form. 

There's a humour here too and a very English sense of both the interior and exterior; the keeping up of appearances is threaded through pints and Sunday lunches, with emotions suppressed for the good of a "quiet life". But the book's trajectory offers hope to the reader, with the speaker rediscovering their strength and finding the courage to break free and take on the world again by its end.

These poems become life affirming and celebratory; while the couple's relationship may be breaking down, the speaker's story is just beginning.