Disputed Land is narrated by Leonard and Rosemary's thirteen-year-old grandson, Theo, who observes how from these innocent beginnings age-old fissures open up in the relationship of those around him. Looking back at this Christmas gathering from his own middle-age-- a narrator at once nostalgic and naive -- Theo Cannon remembers his imperious grandmother Rosemary, alpha-male uncle Johnny, abominable twin cousins Xan and Baz; he recalls his love for his grandfather Leonard and the burgeoning feelings for his cousin Holly. And he asks himself the question: if a single family cannot solve the problem of what it bequeaths to future generations, then what chance does the whole society have of leaving the world intact.

I think I was thinking Iain Pears when I picked this up but I'll give it a try.

Set some 50 years in the future, amid the rolling Welsh marches, Theo, the novel's middle-aged narrator, reflects upon a series events which took place over the Christmas period of 2008 when he was thirteen years old. His grandparents, Leonard & Rosemary Cannon, had summoned the family together - Rodney, Jonny & Gwen, & their offspring -, inviting them to place stickers on any items they wished to inherit.

I'm undecided whether this is a book about family & how wretched they can make us feel, or the environment & how little time we have left.

We see a family falling apart as the matriarch is terminally ill & one brother, Jonny, intends to cozen the farm from his father to cover his debts, playing emotional blackmail with Leonard's grandchildren's needs. Young Theo is just getting to know his extended family, but looks like losing it all in this one family Christmas.

Grandmother Rosemary is prone to outrageous statements due to a tumor affecting her brain. She is worried that each person has not done enough to save & nurture the environment, and that it is too late. By the sounds of Theo's last few paragraphs, she may well have been right - why else consign his grandfather's library to the flames?

I'm not sure what to make of it, but I do know that enforced family get-togethers at Christmas can be extremely strained.

Dad told me not to be downcast. 'Harmony exists only in music, Theo' he said. 'And then only rarely. A single family can no more sort out its legacy than society can,' he said.

Sent to Arvores for my What next ...? RABCK.

It has arrived today, safe and sound.
Thank you so much for sharing.
Warm greetings from Portugal.