The first of three "Silver Novels," all with a Chloe at the centre. This Chloe, fifteen, spent her early years in a Children's Home, but has now come to live with her elderly Aunt and Uncle in their cottage outside the village where Uncle George, though blind, works in the bakehouse. She is befriended by Clara, daughter of the local MP and invited to join this well-off family on a trip to France. She needs a passport and the difficulties in obtaining this stir up Chloes dormant curiosity about her origins. She is helped in her research by the local Vicar, an unconventional character whose hobby is cooking.