Alice Renton

The chocolate-boxy cover design led me to believe this would be only a tiny step up from Mills and Boon; my expectations were not high. How wrong it is to judge a book by its cover. This was actually rather a good read. With the word ‘phallus’ thrice mentioned on page 2 it signalled its intentions, and what followed was an unexpectedly contemporary tale, even getting in a mention of MPs and their dodgy expenses – how topical is that.

If I have a criticism it is that the three daughters of the central character were too similar – their ‘voices’ were hard to distinguish from one another. In all other respects, an enjoyable tale which resolves itself like a perfectly wrapped parcel where all the loose edges turn up nicely, all neat and even. My parcels never end up like that, but one can dream.… (meer)