She guides the reader through life at Shibden Hall after Anne's unconventional 'marriage' to wealthy local heiress Ann Walker. The book explores the daily lives of these two women, from convivial evenings together to her ruthless pursuit of her own business and landowning ambitions. Yet the diaries' coded passages also record tensions and quarrels, with Ann Walker often in tears.

Was their relationship really as fragile as Anne's coded writing suggests? This question is at the heart of As Good as a Marriage.