I write this sitting in the kitchen sink. That is my feet are in it; the rest of me is on the draining-board which I have padded with our dog's blanket & the tea-cosy". This is the diary of Cassandra Mortmain which tells of her extraordinary family & their crumbling castle home. Cassandra's father was once a famous writer but now he mainly reads detective novels while his family slide into genteel poverty. Her sister Rose is bored & beautiful & desperate to marry riches. Their step-mother Topaz has habit of striding through the countryside wearing only her wellington boots. But all their lives will be soon be transformed by the arrival of new neighbours from America & Cassandra finds herself falling in love..."