When Noel Bostock - aged ten, no family - is evacuated from London to escape the Blitz, he winds up in St Albans with Vera Sedge - thiry-six, drowning in debts. Always desperate for money, she''s unscrupulous about how she gets it.

The war''s thrown up all manner of new opportunities but what Vee needs is a cool head and the ability to make a plan. On her own, she''s a disaster. With Noel, she''s a team.

Together they cook up an idea. But there are plenty of other people making money out of the war and some of them are dangerous. Noel may have been moved to safety, but he isn''t actually safe at all . . .

Longlisted for the Baileys Women''s Prize for Fiction, 2015