Tom's eight year old sister Sophie has had a stroke. She is paralysed on her right side and can't speak. As her time in hospital goes on and on, and Mum must stay with her, Tom begins to feel neglected - and then feels guilty because Sophie needs all the care she can get. At school he makes friends with Ash, a boy who is troubled, and together they discover what seem to be mystical qualities in the huge willow man sculpture in a field near their homes. Sometimes told from Sophie's point of view, sometimes from Ash's, but mainly from Tom's, the story follows Sophie's recuperation and Ash's important role in it. We also learn about Ash's family and why he is so damaged. The willow man is central to both Sophie and Ash's recovery from their 'prisons' - Sophie's physical and Ash's emotional. As Ash's father has been in prison literally, and the willow man appears to be imprisoned in his static situation, imprisonment figures largely as a theme. A powerful novel with much good detail about how Sophie feels about her stroke and how she begins to have the will to get better.