This is a novel about love, life, all the good bits, all the bad and how important families are. It tells the story of Elly Maud, her friends and her rather eccentric family. It follows the trials and tribulations of Elly’s life over four decades, starting at her birth in 1968. The first section of the book focuses on Elly’s pre-teen years , the second picks up with Elly when she is 37. The two parts are very distinct with part one being much more light hearted and whimsical than part two which is darker and more serious.

The power of this book is that it is narrated by Elly.  She explains her early life from the point of view of a young child. This is extremely funny with many anecdotes and child-like observations. In this respect, part one reminded me a little of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole. I found her account of getting into trouble at Sunday school for suggesting that Jesus was a mistake i.e. an unplanned child, was not only very funny but illustrated that Elly was somewhat different from other children of her age.

It is in the first part of the book that Elly meets Jenny Penny, another misfit from a broken home who hooks up with Elly at school and becomes a life long friend.  When Elly is  moves to Cornwall with her family to set up a B&B , she is devastated to leave Jenny behind. Whilst they keep in touch for a while and Jenny visits one Christmas, their friendship peters out. It is not until many years later  that Jenny re appears when she writes to Elly from prison where she is serving a sentence for murdering her abusive husband.

Part one of the book also helps to set the scene for part two by describing the relationship between Elly and Joe. The closeness of these two is summed up perfectly very early on in the book when Elly comments on the details of her birth saying:

And yet that was the moment my brother took my hand. Took me protectively into his world

It is Joe who Elly tells about an incident with their neighbour, Mr Golan and, despite the gravity of this confession, Joe doesn’t tell anyone else until many years later. This incident is the reason for the gift of a rabbit from Joe and God, the rabbit, becomes Elly’s closest confidant. The rabbit is actually a Belgian Hare and Elly wanted to call the him Elly but Joe told her that would be silly and that she should call it God. In Elly’s mind the rabbit can speak and his comments left me laughing out loud. Whilst God disappears from the story, a rabbit makes numerous appearances throughout the rest of Elly’s life in a slightly mysterious way.

The second part of the book picks up with Elly’s life in the 1990′s. She is a freelance writer in London. Joe is working in New York and the significance of this becomes apparent  as the book hurtles towards the events of 9/11. The disaster is predicted by Jenny Penny in a letter to Elly, although somewhat cryptically, and it is initially thought that Joe has been killed when the twin towers fall. After several days of waiting for news, Joe is discovered in hospital having been mugged. The consequence of the head injury he sustained is a total loss of memory.

Elly struggles to cope with having a brother who cannot remember their shared past. She is devastated that without those memories, he no longer understands why she is like she is. She questions whether she can live with the new Joe. Slowly however Joe’s memory starts to return and they start to rebuild their relationship.

Along with the recuperation of Joe, Elly is re-establishing her relationship with Jenny Penny. They keep in touch via a series of letters and Elly starts to visit Jenny Penny in prison but each time Jenny Penny fails to show up in the visitors room. Elly tells Jenny of her plans to get her to writer her story and, towards the end of her sentence, Jenny does finally meet Elly face to face.

There are many other characters in  Elly’s life . Her parents are a constant and positive influence on her life. They are open, liberal and seem to absorb everyone into their family. There is also Elly’s lesbian aunt, Nancy, who gives Joe lots of help when he comes out and who also has a very close, slightly strange, platonic lesbian relationship with Elly’s mother! Arthur is an ageing gentleman who visits the B&B and never leaves. He becomes a close friend to Elly and he tutors her when she refuses to go to school. His eccentric behaviour includes a conviction that he knows exactly how and when he will die . There are many others that all add to the richness of the story.

There were some areas of the book that didn’t work well. The mystical powers , including precognition, displayed by Jenny Penny and Arthur seemed to make the story too fanciful. The 9/11 theme, particularly the run up to it where it was very obvious what was going to happen, was largely unnecessary. It felt like it was bolted on and, in fact, the story would have worked just as well without it. The only thing it did do was allow the author to add a twist to the final fate of Joe.

What I loved about this book was its warmth. It was like having a big hug every time I picked it up to read it. I was very very funny with real laugh out loud moments. The innocence of part one and the whimsical nature of the story just carries you along and I certainly couldn’t put it down. This is a fantastic first novel and one that is, at the moment, ranking number one as my book of the year. I certainly didn’t want it to end.

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