This is the story of some really interesting, although fictional, characters who live in the Victoria Park area of East London. Starting in the autumn , the book covers a whole year in the lives of these people, with each part of the book covering a new month and a different set of characters. These people are all linked by the fact that they have all been neighbours for some time and many of them know each other by name , while others only recognise each other by sight. Before the story begins, we find that the Victoria Park residents have been unsettled by there having been a brutal attack on one of the neighbours in the form of an acid attack. The attacker has never been found , and this makes the residents of this area very nervous. The people in Victoria Park come from various different ethnic backgrounds, many of them being immigrants, although some have lived in London for many decades.