WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY LYNNE TRUSS ` Stella Gibbons is the Jane Austen of the twentieth century` The Times Set in wartime London, Westwood tells the story of Margaret Steggles, a plain bookish girl whose mother has told her that she is not the type that attracts men. Her schoolfriend Hilda has a sunny temperament & keeps her service boys `ever so cheery`. When Margaret finds a ration book on Hampstead Heath the pompous writer Gerard Challis enters both their lives. Margaret slavishly adores Challis & his artistic circle; Challis idolises Hilda for her hair & her eyes & Hilda finds Gerard`s romantic overtures a bit of a bind. This is a delightfully comic & wistful tale of love & longing.