This book is about a murder that took place on Christmas Day, 1937, in Llanrwst, North Wales.  Caroline Williams was accused of slashing the throat of her husband, William, during an argument after they had returned from Christmas drinks.  

The setting is a condemned street of houses, Scotland Street. Caroline and William Williams lived at No. 19. There was no running water, gas or electricity, with an outside tap and toilet. 
It was coming to the end of the Great Depression, following the Stock Market crash in the USA in 1929. Factories, mines, businesses and shops had closed, and by 1932, nearly half the men in Wales were unemployed. 390,000 people had left Wales to try to find work in England and further afield. There was the dole, but that was only available for the first six months and wasn't enough to buy food, pay rent or even clothes. Then, in 1931, the Means Test was brought in.  Savings had been depleted, and people were selling anything they had just to put food on the table. People were in despair.  Women suffered the most,  not being able to afford medicine, and they would give any food to their husbands and children, leaving just scraps for themselves. Deaths in childbirth and women's illnesses were higher in Wales than in the rest of Britain.  Milk and nappies were often replaced by sugar water and old newspapers.
Caroline was 48 and of gypsy origin.  She was very tiny, only 4ft 1in tall.  She could neither read nor write and was quite low in intelligence. She also suffered from neuritis in her hands and could not work. Williams was 68.  He had had an accident in a mine, which left him crippled, in great pain, and he used a walking stick. He now made basketware, which he hawked around town to get a few pennies. He would get angry with Caroline if he were in pain, and especially after he had had a few drinks. There were constant arguments. Caroline had often been seen holding up her carving knife towards him, during these arguments.  She called the knife her 'protection', although she said she would never hurt him, and loved him.