There is a Happy Land tells of the events of a few weeks in the life of a small boy on a north county council estate and the rhubarb fields, quarries and Cleark of Works' yard that are his playground.Unlike most boys portrayed in fiction he is not an ultrasensitive soul but an ordinary boy, occasionally cowardly, sometimes a liar, tough in his own eyes and often insecure in his dealings with others. In his evocation of the jingles, games, fantasies and nightmares of childhood, Waterhouse brings his tribe of street urchins so vividly to life that the book has taken on the status of a much-loved classic.