Our unreliable narrator, Betty – arch, witty, clever – is married with children and feels trapped. While her husband, Adam, drinks and bemoans his lot in life, Betty flirts with their best friend Brendan and tries to avoid the roving hands of her new employer. Soon, Betty plots her escape.

Agnes Owens' sharp wit, dark humour and lean prose are expertly displayed in one of her finest achievements.

'Agnes Owens was an absolutely brilliant novelist' – Kirstin Innes

'A terrific writer' – Liz Lochhead

'Her black humour and piercing observation bear comparison with the work of Muriel Spark' – Guardian

Published to celebrate Agnes Owens' centenary year in 2026.

'One of the most arresting and distinctive voices of twentieth century literature'

'What underpins this black comedy is Owens’ authentic portrayal of 1950s working-class hardship, especially for women dreaming of escape'

'Agnes Owens is one of Scotland's finest writers, and it's to be hoped that a new readership is about to discover that for themselves'

'Brimming with dark humour and scalpel-sharp observations'

'The time to rediscover Owens' sharp, brilliant, witty, fuss-free fiction is here'

'Agnes Owens' hallmarks have been a frank irony, a deadpan gothic quality and a down-to-earth insistence on the surreality of most people’s normality'

'Owens pulls no punches. Her understated prose finds acerbic humour in the lives of characters hovering between farce and tragedy'

'Owens is a gift to the Scots urban world'

'Her black humour and piercing observation bear comparison with the work of Muriel Spark'

'Owens has a voice no one could imitate, and humour to match . . . Scottish life as lived by those far from the comfort zone, depicted less with loathing than with love'

'A hidden treasure of Scottish literature, read this and then read all her other works'

'Rightfully celebrates a writer whose work deserves a wider audience and critical reappraisal'

'The wonderful Agnes Owens, too often overlooked in life, is making a splashy comeback with repackaged novels'

‘Agnes Owens was such a fine writer. Her best stories are great stories . . . she created an art that will endure’

'Recommended, especially for fans of Beryl Bainbridge, Elizabeth Berridge and Muriel Spark – a discomfort read that might just get under your skin!'

Agnes Owens was always a writer, although for the majority of her life she was preoccupied with making a living and domesticity. She married twice, brought up seven children and variously worked as a typist, cleaner and factory worker. It wasn’t until she attended an evening creative writing course that she wrote her first novel Gentlemen of the West, published in 1984 by Polygon to widespread critical acclaim; she would go on to write a further five novellas, including A Working Mother and For the Love of Willie, and three short-story collections. She died in 2014.

Kirstin Innes is an award-winning writer, journalist and arts worker living in the west of Scotland. Her first novel Fishnet won The Guardian's Not The Booker Prize in 2015, and is currently in development for television with STV. Her second novel Scabby Queen was published by 4th Estate in 2020, and she is currently developing a play with the National Theatre of Scotland.