This book is about a girl, a school and a family in Australia in the 1950s and 60s... A deeply personal account of teenage struggles with parental and sibling relationships and with school discipline, study demands, tough living conditions and rigorous religious education. Jill's daily life as a school boarder, her rebellions, emotional highs and lows, and encounters with Dr Wood, MLC's charismatic principal and pastor, are described with honesty, hilarity and sharp critical insight.