two things about Esther Freud: she's one of the best at seeing through the eyes of children, and any book of hers will be reviewed with the sort of hysterical sycophantic joy that most of us reserve for sexual partners.
I've learned to admire the former, and distrust the latter. Freud never writes a bad book, but this isn't one of her best. we have the usual children struggling in a messy world, while the adults behave more like children than the children do. Then, in this one, we get a thread of norse myth running throughout which is clunky, feels contrived and doesn't work. We also have a main character - William - who is just a massive tosspot from the word go and it's impossible to have the slightest sympathy for him. He pervades the book and one wishes him dead, and that these fluttery women and girls would stop loving him. It takes too long...competent for the most part, but annoying. Not quite a near miss.

Either to a fellow bookcrosser at the meeting (join us! 10.30 A.M. in the pub - we're the ones with the piles of books) or in the wilds of central Manchester afterwards.

I have read this, but i don't remember it!

To be released at the Waterhouse meeting or into the wild after