Passed over (in favour of a man) in the house-agency department she's built, Julia storms out of her job, and engagement to boring Oscar, to become a cook on a pair of canal hotel-boats.
But Oscar isn't giving up and when childhood enemy Fergus arrives on the scene Julia's in double-trouble and must hastily learn some new 'Life Skills'.
As always, Fforde blows a fresh summer breeze through the old-fashioned Romantic Novel - in a setting made vivid by the author's personal experience.