An eccentric old lady moves into a quiet street in Camden Town. There she remains, installed in her van in glorious self-sufficiency until the council instructs her to move on. A kind homeowner invites her to live in his garden.

A bizarre tale in itself, but even more bizarre when writer Alan Bennett is the homeowner and the woman stays for fifteen years.

What kind of bond could two such different people possibly form? Both fascinating and moving, Bennett recounts the unlikely story of Mary Shepherd, the nomad who took a unique place in his life for well over a decade.

This edition also has an extra episode in which Bennett recounts the discovery of Miss Shepherd's brother and learns more about her secret past. Uncle Clarence

'He is only our would-be uncle, an uncle who might have been... '

In another short story, Uncle Clarence , Bennett tells of his quest for the relation he
never knew- his mother's brother. killed in Flanders in 1917.