Ben Flude's Mum was from a large East End family brought up in a two-roomed flat. His Dad was from a family of Umbrella Makers, who transferred his skills to begin a career in servicing early aeroplanes for the Royal Flying Corp at Croydon Aerodrome. Ben's Mum had a good job working in the canteen of the Bovril Factory in Old Street, but, convention insisted she had to give it up as soon as she got married. So, everything changed when his Dad died unexpectedly from a perforated ulcer, at only 28 year's old. The book tells the story of how the family coped, not just with poverty and poor housing, but with war, evacuation and service in the Armed Forces.