Headlock is set in a children's institution in 1960's Lancashire, England, and Martha Chisdale, the senior girl and of Jamaican parentage, is going for gold at the All-School's Championships. Her experiences shatter her self-image and the public image of the orphanage as she tries to cope with fame and tragedy: her 'little brother' Johnny being sent away for bad behaviour and brewing scandals surrounding the Deputy Matron. Amidst tragic affairs of the heart and a corrupt Town Hall, Matron Foster tries to ignore, then fathom and subdue the forces that threaten to close Croxford House, the home she has founded for disadvantaged children. Mark Eaton hails from Salford, Greater Manchester, England, and was educated in the counties Lancashire, Shropshire and Sussex. He subsequently spent twenty-four years in the United States of America where he wrote Headlock in a garret in Harlem, New York. He currently lives in London.