Thirteen year old Duffy must spend the summer with his Nan while his mum takes his little sister Charlotte for a serious operation in the States. This is okay with Duffy because he likes his Nan, and as he has Tourette's syndrome, he is rather a loner, afraid of being made fun of. His Tourette's is a fairly mild form - he stammers and twitches, but doesn't use rude words. When he meets Alice, who lives over Nan's back wall, they make a game of using all the bad words they can think of. Alice is considered extremely 'bad' by all who know her. She is loud, often violent, and the despair of her adopted family - committed Christians who everyone believes are saintly in their dealings with her. But all is not as it should be in the Gregory family, and from a series of stories that Alice writes, based on the Alice in Wonderland books that are her favourite reading, Duffy comes to understand the dark side of Alice's dad. Alice is extremely bright and her stories are enigmatic. It takes some while for the penny to drop, but when he and Alice finally enlist Nan's help, things start to happen. Alice and her sister are taken into care, and the family is split up. There isn't a happy ending - we don't know what happens to Alice ultimately - but there is hope. And Alice has helped Duffy with his problems too. Strong stuff and very believable.