Politically correct this most certainly isn't. At least not now, it is thirty years old. Set in a near future Britain, flooded with refugees fleeing the aftermath of atomic war in Africa. A right-wing government is in power and Britain is heading into civil war.

This book reads like a Edmund Cooper, bleak, almost apocalyptic novel as it would have been written by Kurt Vonnegut or Michael Moorcock in one of his darker moods ('The Black Corridor' territory). Similarly to Mr. Moorcock's 'Behold the Man', and Mr. Vonnegut's 'Slaughterhouse-5' , this book moves between periods in the main character's life.

Alan Whitman is typical of a number of Englishmen. He lives in suburbia, he is married (although not happily), has a daughter and has had many extra-martial affairs. His world is turned on it's head, his comfortable job disappears and he, with his family, leaves his home as the fighting encroaches.

The mood of this book is fairly dark, it's not the book to read if you want an uplifting story. But if you want gritty sf and will allow for the non-PC content of the story then this is a well written novel.