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I have been toying with the idea of reducing all my reviews to one word, but I suspect that I would use only a narrow range of words (great, entertaining, cracking, marvellous, epic, shite) and would rapidly become repetitive.

But if ever a book could be distilled into a word, it is this book and that word.

In a story told through the innocent eyes of a child, but with the wisdom and wry humour of an adult, we follow a family full of tragedy, but which never abandons hope.

Our narrator is growing up in the 1950s, and interspersed between her childhood tales are family histories which range from the late 19th century through to the second world war. The histories illuminate the present day, adding a brilliant depth of colour; and they also remind us that it isn't so many years ago that life was brutally hard for all but the most priveleged.

This is a novel of loss and sorrow, but also humour and farce; a sheer joy to read. And, incredibly, a debut novel. I laughed and cried, and you probably will too.

Five stars (out of five)