Ten-year-old Benedict is feeling happy. His family's new home in Swaziland has the most beautiful garden in the whole entire world, teeming with insects, frogs and his favourite cinnamon-coloured birds. Here, crouched in the cool shade of the lucky-bean tree, it's easy to forget the loneliness that comes from his siblings playing without him, easy to stop himself fretting about how to fix his Mama's failing cake-baking business.
This is the tale of family life in Swaziland seen from the point of view of sensitive 10 year old Benedict. He and his cousins are all being brought up by their grandparents, their own parents all being deceased or "late." Money is tight, requiring Baba to take on consultancy work which forces him to travel; and meaning Mama needs to get her cake business up and running in their temporary new home in Swaziland.
Benedict observes - and sometimes misunderstands - the adult complexities of the world around him. But everything comes pretty good in the end.