If you haven't read any of Penelope Fitzgerald's books then you are about to make a wonderful discovery. She didn't start writing novels until she was in her sixties and then produced a series of books based on her varied jobs; at the BBC during the war; working in a theatre school for children; running a bookshop. Having run out of biographical material, she decided to write hstorical novels and this one, set in Moscow in 1913 is an astonishing recreation of the time; witty, funny, odd and heart-warming without being sentimental. I think it was Sebastian Faulks who described the experience of reading a Fitzgerald book as like 'being driven in a luxurious classic car, only for someone to throw the steering wheel out of the window after the first mile.' Something like that, and when you read her you will see exactly what he means. She is unpredictable and will always take the reader somewhere that he/she least expects. Enjoy.

RELEASE NOTES:

I left the book on the community table in Bill's - great grocer's by the way; a real discovery. Hope that someone picks it up and loves it.