The story develops over centuries, set in the Boroughs, the most ancient neighbourhood in Northampton. The colophon states that the book is based on a true story; it concerns a large collection of characters: some mythical, some fictional, and some historical. Along with his family's oral traditions, life experience, and ideas (such as
eternalism) that he had
explored in other writings, The book includes chapters in the style of
Samuel Beckett,
James Joyce, as well as a chapter written in verse, while the entire second Book is somewhat in the style of a children's novel (a "savage, hallucinating
Enid Blyton," according to Moore in a 2008 interview with the BBC). as well as "madness, ghosts, and the confusion of dreams, visions, memories, and premonitions." After the death of Moore's editor
Steve Moore (no relation), he worked with three editors on the book, Donna Scott, editor of the Best of British Science Fiction anthology series, writer and cultural historian
John Higgs and writer
Alistair Fruish. In the acknowledgements section of the book, Moore credits Fruish with supplying information that allowed him to reveal "the gas street origins of free market capitalism and the industrial revolution" in the book. == Editions ==