This Novel starts just before the second world war in a Northern industrial town. The Old Bookshop is run like clockwork and very regimented. We find out later why. George, a widower and his son Tim are there every day. There are strange noises coming from the bookshelves but no one is there. Tim loves to read and enjoys losing himself in books. To get away from the tedium and the threat of war he imagines he is one of the characters in the books...