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 and 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 and his artistic circle; Challis idolises Hilda for her hair and her eyes and Hilda finds Gerard''s romantic overtures a bit of a bind. This is a delightfully comic and wistful tale of love and longing.