It is 1946 and the people of France and England are facing the aftermath of the war. Banished by her beautiful, indolent mother to England, Barbary Deniston is thrown into the care of her distinguished father and conventional stepmother. Having grown up in the sunshine of Provence, allowed to run wild with the Maquis, experienced collaboration, betrayal and death, Barbary finds it hard to adjust to the drab austerity of postwar London life.

Confused and unhappy, she discovers one day the flowering wastes around St Paul's. Here, in the bombed heart of London, she finds an echo of the wilderness of Provence and is forced to confront the wilderness within herself.

Introduced by Penelope Fitzgerald

'They stood, with no roof but the sky, while pigeons whirred about them. Suddenly the bells of St Paul's clashed out, drowning them in sweet, hoarse, rocking clamour ... The children stood still, gazing on a wilderness of little streets, caves and cellars, the foundations of a wrecked merchant city, grown over by green and golden fennel and ragwort, coltsfoot, purple loosestrife, rosebay willow herb'

Barbary spent her childhood running wild with the Maquis, experiencing danger, collaboration and betrayal. She learnt to survive. The war is now over, Barbary is seventeen, and it is decided that she should learn how to behave. Sent from the sunshine of Provence to her father in austere, post-war London, Barbary is confused and unhappy, patronised by her 'civilised' relatives.

When she discovers a flowering wasteland in the heart of the bombed city, Barbary finds the sanctuary she needs; here, in this echo of the wilderness of Provence, she can confront the fear and emptiness that have become part of her.

Poignant and inspiring