"Behind every person there is a story to tell". Following this statement, Robert Bennie brings back to life a woman called Mary, who used to wander around his workplace. A story that seems to be true, completely credible yet it is not. Bennie never had the chance to talk to her to go deeper in her life and to understand what brought her to an existence of begging and wandering; he simply felt moved by her death, all alone by the streets of London and this made him think about the possible life she had had. Told in exquisite detail, this story turns out to be a parable of the human race, its strengths and weaknesses; a refreshingly honest portrayal of unfortunate ugliness and contempt that all human beings are capable of, but also the amazing generosity and kindness that can be found in times of greatest hardship.

The image Bennie makes up of Mary is a woman called Margery, a nurse during the Second World War. She falls in love with an Australian airman and is allowed a brief spell of happiness before her world is shattered when he leaves on an operation, never to return. In a country fighting for independence and freedom of thought, Margery has to strive to win her own battles to succeed. From working as a nurse, she qualified as a staff nurse and later becomes a ward sister. Tragedy strikes again in the form of Dr Nigel Cairnworth, who drugs and rapes her, but when she speaks out, the medical board do not believe her claims over the expensive lawyer and family standing that her rapist affords.

The point of Robert Bennie in this story is that despite the lack of worldly goods that Margery owned at the end of her life, she still retained the most worthy attributes of all: integrity, faith in the goodness of others and the ability to find the good in the world.

An inspiration to all and an example of the best the human race can hope to achieve.