A child is found wandering in an ancient woodland, her hands covered in blood, not her own. Unwilling--or unable--to speak, the only person she seems to trust is the young officer who rescued her, Detective Sergeant Lucy Black. Soon afterwards, DS Black is baffled to find herself suddenly moved from a high-profile case involving a kidnapping of another girl, a prominent businessman's teenage daughter. At home, Black is struggling with caring for her...

In this memoir, we follow Séamas and the rest of his rowdy clan as they learn to cook, clean, do the laundry, and struggle--often hilariously--to keep the household running smoothly and turn into adults in the absence of the woman who had held them together.