Follow the weird and wonderful history of the Fairfax family in this thoroughly enjoyable quirk novel from Kate Atkinson. Nothing is ever predictable in Atkinson’s novels but there is always plenty to feed your imagination.

Synopsis

Once it had been the great forest of Lythe - a vast and impenetrable thicket of green. And here, in the beginning, lived the Fairfaxes, grandly, at Fairfax Manor, visited once by the great Gloriana herself. But over the centuries the forest had been destroyed, replaced by streets of trees. The Fairfaxes have dwindled too; now they live in 'Arden' at the end of Hawthorne Close and are hardly a family at all. But Isobel Fairfax, who drops into pockets of time and out again, knows about the past. She is sixteen and waiting for the return of her mother - the thin, dangerous Eliza with her scent of nicotine, Arpege and sex, whose disappearance is part of the mystery that still remains at the heart of the forest.

Reviews

Atkinson soared to literary fame by beating Salman Rushdie to the 1995 Whitbread Prize with her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum. This, her second, shows her writing skills were not spent in that first outpouring. It starts with the beginning of the world and ends when time stops. In between, Isobel and Charles Fairfax lose their mother in the forest of Lythe. They don't know how she disappeared, but she doesn't come back. A microcosmic (and splendid) examination of universal themes: birth, death, love and hatred. (Kirkus UK)

About the Author

Kate Atkinson’s When Will There Be Good News? was voted winner of the Richard & Judy Best Read of the Year. After Case Histories and One Good Turn, it was her third novel to feature the former private detective Jackson Brodie, who also makes a welcome return in Started Early, Took My Dog. She won the Whitbread (now Costa) Book of the Year prize for her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, and has been a critically acclaimed international bestselling author ever since. Kate Atkinson was born in York and now lives in Edinburgh. More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation