It's impossible to recommend the late Bernardine Bishop's wondrous book too highly. Something extraordinary is imparted by its pages, too special to be glibly labelled, but along the lines of wisdom and hope and belief in the capacity of human beings to learn and change. Extraordinary, too, are the honesty and frankness with which cancer is dealt with in all its frightening reality. Cecelia and Helen met during their treatment for bowel cancer, both have stomas, both find comfort in talking to each other about what that means for every aspect of their lives, say, travel or sex or freedom. You will not be so afraid of cancer after reading this book. Twin plotlines of unorthodox parenthood entwine and mirror each other subtly and pleasingly. Like Cecelia, Bishop is, or was, a psychotherapist, "accustomed to thinking about degrees of truth, of belief, of honesty". Her cool insights illuminate her characters with kindly but searching light and remind us that our primary task is to try to come to self-knowledge.