Shena Mackay

Little sparkless at the beginning but once I was drawn in I was held. Aching story lines were told in such a gentle, truly childlike way. Quirky and powerful.

A dark tale which reveals the mores of adult deliquency towards raising children in the 1950s. Beautiful writing, with some astonishing metaphors and similies. Far from uplifting, but highly memeorable.

Sheena MacKay conjures up childhood in 1950s Kent very vividly in this story of April, the daughter of the Harlency's who take over the Copper Kettle Tearoom in a village in Kent, and her best friend, Ruby, whose parents run the local pub.

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.