On the seventh floor of an East End high-rise, Birdie Gibbs lives on chocolate bars and yearns for action, or at least for the reopening of the old Imperial dance hall, where she used to have good times. One of her ex-husbands, Jimmy Dwyer, turns up from nowhere with a greyhound that needs a temporary home, then disappears again. Seeing Jimmy revives memories of the War, when Birdie and her friends did their bit. She still does her bit today, though the world around her doesn't make much sense.

When the Fruit Bowl Estate boils over in the summer of 95 and police leave is cancelled, Birdie gets all the action she can handle. More even than the night Hitler bombed Beckton gas works.

Pre-numbered label used for registration.

picked up at the Unconvention in Birmingham.

Not as good as Graham's other work (I particularly liked Future Homemakers of America) but still an enjoyable read with some funny and heart-warming moments.

RELEASE NOTES:

To be released either at or after the Newcastle meet tonight.

Picked up at tonight's Newcastle BookCrossing meet

I can see why the quote on the front cover makes the connection between Laurie Graham and Alan Bennett. This is a well-written, funny, (at times) sad but enjoyable story of an old lady living on a dodgy council estate in the East End. Her life, and how she interacts - and tries to stop interacting! - with those around her was fun to read.

Updated 24 April: My step-dad's currently in Hull Royal Infirmary and there are a few books in the day room on his ward, but not many, so I'm going to add this one (and a few others) to the shelf for people to read.