Emma's best and only real friend Tem is moving away at the same time as Emma's dad is spending several months abroad for his job, leaving Emma disconsolate and unsure how she's going to get on. To complicate matters further, her mother decides to spend some time with her father while he's abroad and asks Great Aunt Grace to look after Emma. At first Emma is horrified, but then each of them learns how to get on with the other. Finally, Emma discovers a new set of friends as she makes the school play.
The story is told from Emma's point of view, as a first-person narrative and transmits all her thoughts and worries, delights and feelings without confusing the reader. In a down-to-earth way it addresses, through Emma's feelings and reactions, all the difficulties she's going through. To some extent it could be regarded as bibliotherapy, helping children in similar situations, but even as a story it stands up by itself.
Emma's and Tem's families are both normal single-children families, close but not without the occasional spat, especially when Emma discovers that her father is going abroad and her mother is going to join him for a while. Tim Golden is a computer programmer in London. He is also the editor of the Good-to-Read website.