The Dangerous Edge of Things

1949- Candida Lycett Green describes one year in her childhood in the remote village of Farnborough in Berkshire, where she lived with her father John Betjeman and her mother Penelope Chetwode. In one of the bleakest and highest spots on the windswept downland, Candida runs wild with the 'Gang' of village children. Stimulated by regular excursions to the Pictures in Wantage, Candida and her best friend June become fascinated by the idea of love. Their romantic imagination fuelled by the beautiful Ruby Mason, who cleans the cottage of a reclusive scientist, Dr Fox, employed at the neighbouring Harwell Atomic Research Centre, they stealthily engineer a romance between the two - until it is revealed that none of the children's special adult friends are what they seemed, and the real world shockingly intervenes to overturn their innocence. Skilfully combining her childhood memories with elements of fiction, Candida Lycett Green has written a book infused with an irresistible love of the English countryside reminiscent of LARK RISE TO CANDLEFORD and CIDER WITH ROSIE, sharply evoking a way of life that has passed for ever.