A cross-eyed Devonian party girl relocated to Brixton, a mad scientist experimenting on animals at the Department of Organology in Oxford, a hen-pecked HGV driver from Birmingham, a would-be Cornish wrestler turned cat burglar of no fixed abode, a single father of a disabled son stuck in Crapton Towers in the wastelands of Manchester, an amnesiac who wakes up every morning not knowing who or where he is and a Bradford spinster who works in an animal sanctuary shop.
Bizarre coincidences, tragic events and pure chance throw this motley crew together dramatically changing their lives for better and worse over the course of a revolution of the sun.
A huge cast of supporting characters and extras play their part in keeping the wheels turning and provide welcome light relief to the sometimes sad, dark, pathetic and disturbing pasts and presents of the protagonists.
Humourous and thought-provoking, this is a cleverly constructed and highly detailed novel that has a little bit of everything.
It isn’t the easiest of reads but well worth reading and, apart from a few extremely scientific sections that went right over my head, kept me hooked from start to finish.
What a difference a year makes. ( )

What a broad reach this book had, such a variety of topics and diversity of characters. Any one of them could have occupied a novel of their own. How generous of the author to bundle them all together in one like this! From “shell suited fat man” Jack through Martha the professional burglar to Roderick the Tory MP (and if he wasn’t meant to be Michael Portillo I’m a Dutchman) they covered the whole social spectrum.

The style of writing reminded me of John Irving – the tendency to create oddball characters, to take the reader on long detours through their past that take as long as they take. To say nothing of the wrestling that takes place. Plot, for long stretches, takes a back seat.

It is clear from the novel’s start that the disparate characters, few of whom are acquainted at the story’s start, will all meet and join forces by its end. It feels unfeasible, so wondering how it will come about provides much of the interest here. I must say I found some of the connections forged between the characters far fetched, hard to swallow...the drug storyline baffling...the end scenario unfeasible. Yet it feels hard to offer any negative comment in the face of such immense authorly skill – the skill that had me spellbound for the first two or three hundred pages, made me laugh, taught me things I didn’t know. Probably I failed to spot some vast symbolic meaning, and the fault lies entirely with me. ( )