I mentioned the other day that I had read three quarters of this book. I’ve now finished it. I was already enjoying it, but it is a book of two parts – the first part would fit the description ‘quirky fiction’ whereas the last quarter of the story contains some of the most moving prose that I’ve ever read in a novel. The author’s love of language is abundantly evident.  Described in various reviews as ‘Mesmerisingly beautiful, ‘An extraordinary masterpiece’ and ‘A novel that entertains and moves in equal measure’, it was shortlisted for the Costa First Book Award’ in 2019.

What luck that I found it when I was searching Amazon for a cheap Kindle read to fill in before a couple of books I’d ordered were released.

Author Joanna Glen’s love of Spain shines through her writing. She read Spanish at the University of London, followed by a spell at Córdoba University in the south of Spain and later taught Spanish and English.

From the time I learned,  I have always loved to read. I couldn’t contemplate a holiday without several books ready to be devoured. It’s a rare day when I don’t have a book ‘on the go’, and if I don’t have at least a couple of others waiting in the wings, I can feel quite anxious.  The worst part of a good book is when I’m approaching the end and I don’t want to leave the characters behind.  And when the story is finished, I actually miss them.

Books release us from the constraints of our own reality, taking us beyond our world and into someone else’s real or imaginary one. (Katie Yakovleva), and who wouldn’t want to be taken beyond their world as it is right now?