Old Lily Laceby--her bones "as creaky as floorboards at midnight"--lives alone with her elderly dog. On a windy night, she sits dreaming by the fire, reliving (in reverse order) the events of her long life, unaware of the rustling and peeping going on outdoors. The noises become loud knocks, then shouts; when Lily finally unlocks the door, she discovers her entire family--four more generations--plus 47 friends, all come to celebrate her 90th birthday. Yet, "Inside I'm only four-and-a-half," she confides to the youngest. A compassionate portrait of old age, memorably extended in Denton's sharply observed pen and colored, pencil illustrations, which use frames for the three parallel stories of events in the past, outside, and by the fire.
