A touching story about a little boy who lives on his own with his working mother. Whenever he is naughty, his mother threatens him with Mrs Cole, who appears to be a disreputable character living nearby in total squalor. He imagines children being starved, whipped and even stewed. Then one day he runs away from home and despite his fears, finds himself outside Mrs Cole’s house. She invites him in and he discovers that Mrs Cole’s noisy, chaotic kindly house is welcoming and warm and her house becomes somewhere to go when he is good. ‘ An intriguing mix of realism and fantasy is the key element in one of the most outstanding young children’s picture books for some time… with exceptional illustrations by Michael Foreman’ - Financial Times