To the outsider his life looks idyllic: a perfect wife; an adoring and adored stepdaughter; a plantation-style mansion and no obvious money worries. But Albo wrestles with a problem with alcohol and as the novel opens he’s about to return to work after a sabbatical, having managed to keep off the demon liquor for two years. Where the garden to which he returns should be experiencing spring and getting rosy, Albo soon finds it descends into a version of hell.