Rosie Johnston could have made rather a lot of money by writing a sensational account of her prison experiences and the events that led up to her being sent down. Instead she insisted on writing, for very much less money, this scrupulously sensation-free book, which she modestly hopes ‘might be of help to other female first offenders on bail who face the prospect of going to prison’, and to their families. Nothing here about the wild ways of Oxford’s jeunesse dorée, and virtually nothing about the offence with which poor Rosie was charged.

Even the dust-jacket is reticent, referring merely to ‘the Oxford drugs case of 1986’. The name of Olivia Channon is never once mentioned, but Rosie, as all the world must know, was the best friend who passed on the heroin which, in a cocktail of other drugs and drink, was