Charlotte Bingham seems to write two sorts of books - her short humorous ones and her bigger 'epic' novels. I'm a fan of both and although she has written far more 'epic' novels than short books, I sometimes miss her wonderful sense of humour, although it's always popping up in the best of her more serious work. So it was with enormous pleasure I read this book just to find myself laughing with Charlotte again and taking pleasure in her wonderfully idiosyncratic characters. I love the perplexed and world weary Biddy, Tom her seemingly hopeless nephew and as for Boris ~ he just struck me as being one of the great comic creations in modern fiction ~ all the characters just jump off the page. I'd have given this 5* if the story hadn't petered out just a little ~ but then maybe that's because I wanted more so maybe Charlotte might be persuaded to write on about this eccentric holiday cum B/B home ~ who knows? There could even be a series in it! And if you don't know how funny this author can be you should try reading some of her early 'short' work ~ Belgravia, Country Life, By Invitation etc. All marvellously funny and full of the richest of characters.
