Girl in the Mirror chronicles the life of Muriel: a giddy kipper of a girl who craves the spotlight of a movie star, an ordinary girl with extraordinary dreams, growing up either side of the war in a family who behave as if love is on ration. She finds a love to claim as her own in the streets of Manchester and begins a life that seeks to contain her restless spirit. It sparks out through her dancing shoes and love of art. So begins Muriel’s lifelong struggle with her fragile mind. Can she find the balance in her fractured life that is held together with love?

At 10, she is full to the brim with dreams and ambition, a passion for dance, and a talent for it too. Inspired by encounters with the paintings of Ford Madox Brown to create a life beyond her beginnings, Muriel takes on the mantle of family responsibility. It is a duty she resents when she wants to shine, to be in the spotlight, and escape a fate that seems mapped out for her. As a teenager on a street corner in Moss Side, she meets Jim and sees a way to find a love that is lacking in her family and to meld him to her will, although his best friend Mickey still lurks and waits for her affection. She rails against the expectation that she will be a wife and a mother, and is instead happy as a dance instructor and dressmaker, making silk gowns for rich ladies.

In the summer of 1939, she marries Jim and, shortly after, engineers a trip to Canada. She is excited by the possibility of a new life in a new country and intends to wow the Canadians with her city sophistication, but after a long journey, the isolation of the family farm is a shock. She nonetheless rallies and woos the locals with her talents, but her moment in the spotlight is interrupted by the declaration of war. They must return to England, where Jim is called up.

She must choose to settle, or to fly.