Content Warning: This study guide features references to rape, physical abuse, and anti-LGBTQ+ bias.

The novel opens with a North Kent Echo newspaper article from December 6, 1957, featuring a railway disaster where over 80 people die and 200 are injured. The article describes the events of December 4, when a steam train from Cannon Street to Ramsgate collided with a train running from Charing to Hayes because of a thick fog. In an attempt to miss the Hayes train, the Ramsgate steam train swung into a pillar of the Nunhead flyover, causing the bridge to collapse. The article reports that passengers nearest the back of the train took the brunt of the collision; the majority of these passengers were from Clock House and Beckenham.

The novel flashes back to six months before the train accident.

In June 1957, the North Kent Echo includes an article featuring recent findings on the study of parthenogenesis, titled “Men No Longer Needed for Reproduction!” The study concludes parthenogenesis is possible in animals like rabbits and frogs, it’s likely also possible for humans. In response, Mrs. Gretchen Tilbury writes to the Echo that she believes her daughter to have been born exactly in this way.