George “Fatty” Bowling, an insurance agent, lives with his family in a faceless house among other faceless houses in a London suburb. His wife doesn’t understand his jokes, and the children annoy him. When George wins a little money at the races and is thinking what to spend it on, his eyes catch an advertising poster—and George starts sorting through his own memories: memories of childhood in Lower Binfield. Stroke by stroke, he draws for us a whole world—one that is almost lost. A world that is not yet ruled by fear and hasn’t yet died in the war. His parents are still alive, and you can fly your bicycle down a slope with your legs up, and nothing is more beautiful than the green water of a dammed pond, the silence, and the sun—and the smell of summer. But alas, even in memories, the shadow of a bomber grows…