"Two and Two Halves...and a Dog" provides an antidote to the huge amounts of 'misery' literature inflicted upon us in its depiction of a happy childhood in Blackburn. It is a vivid evocation of a vanished way of life, many can still recall. An account of a northern childhood, it delivers snapshots not only of one family and one town, but also of a wider, vanished way of life. The main location is Blackburn, still a thriving cotton town in 1940 when the account begins with wartime and the departure of the father and two uncles for the RAF, one of them never to return. There is grief, joy, humour and family conflict as Joan acquires the attitudes, interests and knowledge she will carry with her as she leaves for university, but always set against the secure background of a loving family.