Since his wife died, old Mr Hegarty has lived alone, with just his cat, Cat, and dog, Jacko, for company. The last in the street before the wharves and wharehouses, his house is one of the few that remain in the area. Most of them have been pulled down and replaced with building sites full of cranes, concrete girders and men in hard hats. Mr Hegarty passes them on his way to the old Lane, whose busy market and cafe are an enduring refuge in an ever changing world. It is in the Lane that Mr Hegarty finds himself one Christmas Eve, enjoying the cheerful bustle, before returning home in the dark. It seems like it will be just another quiet, uneventful Christmas for the lonely old widower. But then, in the middle of the night, he hears a faint crying that leads him to a disused church and a very special discovery. Susan Hill has also written Can it be True? (winner of the 6-8 years catagory of the Smarties Book Prize), I Won't Go There Again, Septimus Honeydew, Friends Nextdoor, A Very Special Birthday, Beware Beware and The Walker Book of Ghost Stories. John Lawrence has been twice shortlisted for the Emil/Kurt Maschler Prize for Emily's Own Elephant and A New Treasury of Poetry. He has also twice won the Francis Williams Book Illustration Award. Other books that he has illustrated include Watership Down and Christmas in Exeter Street.