"It is late December and fifteen-year-old Caris is trying to hang an angel on a Christmas tree in a terraced house in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. She is interrupted by the arrival of the police, who have come to announce that her mother, Louise, has been caught stealing a shoe in a department store in town. Caris's father, Mac, a taxi driver, struggles to keep the family together as Christmas looks set for disaster, especially when Louise's drunken, dishevelled mother moves in. While Mac finds solace talking to his passengers, Caris is drawn into the intriguing darkness of the nearby vale, where she meets George, an unpredictable boy from a very different sort of family. Their relationship leads her away from school and what she has known, into a new and unnerving world."--Back cover