Donald Rutherford has taught economics at Edinburgh University for decades and published dictionaries of economics and works on the history of economic thought, his principal specialism. He has also written numerous short stories. Late at night eight year old Maynard overhears his parents in a violent argument. His mother accuses her husband of being a capitalist before she storms off. The curious boy wants to know what capitalism is but has to learn economics first. With passion Maynard embarks on debates with his father about 'eke-nomics'. There is a tension within the father between his diehard socialist beliefs and his rich banker lifestyle. Maynard as he looks after his cats and flies his kite is determined to apply common-sense to his father's beliefs to sort out the major themes of economics. Whether father or son will win this ideological fight and the fate of his mother dominate the novel. Art work by Lorna Angus