I’m in two minds about this book. The first half didn’t have much going for it apart from some understatedly nice writing and a slightly loopy child narrator. The second half was still clearly written and got more eventful but the events were almost too much for the writing. I’m not really sure what I made of the whole.

It’s another book up for the Booker. (The “Man Booker Prize” as it’s being called in a sort of over sponsored way - I think Booker were very clever to sponsor it for so long that their successor sponsors had to keep their name in use or nobody would know what they were on about! Either that or not very clever for sponsoring it for so long that nobody realised that the book prize was related to the cash & carry people.) Anyway, asides aside, I wouldn’t back it over either St Aubyn or Grenville to win the prize, but what do I know?

Oh, and I never understood the title, or how it related to the story, which is a bit odd.