Picked up off the bookshelf in our holiday cottage - by Darren actually who thought I might like it based on the fact that he’d read another of Mackay’s books years ago. And I did. Found it all a bit flowery at first (mostly due to reading it hot on the heels of Ian McEwan I think) but it paints a vivid picture of a 1950s village childhood. Some aspects of it I found a bit stereotypical but in the end they didn’t distract from the overall tale.