In a strange old building referred to as Paddy's Puzzle, Clara Bently endures the fears of wartime and awaits the arrival of her lover, Ambrose. He's an American Marine. And he's black.
Having grown up in suburban Hamilton, her move to Auckland marks an excape from the dreariness and restrictions of her childhood. In this building, full of an odd assortment of people, she waits, not just for Ambrose, but for the air-raid siren, for the culmination of her illness and for the sister to whom she dreads having to explain her new life in the Puzzle.
