Bookfellas.co.uk description:
"Ruby was born while her father was in the pub. Her mother, Bunty, had never wanted to marry him, and dreamt of being swept off to America by a romantic hero, but instead, was stuck in a flat with her three children. This is the family's story."

This books falls, for me, somewhere between OK and good. It's interesting in that it's one of those books that spans a long period, in this case, nearly the whole 20th century. At times, the fact that it's not in chronological order makes it difficult to follow, as does that fact that there are just too many names and you end up forgetting who's who - it needs a family tree or something so you can remember where everyone fits in. The book ends up reading as just a collection of vaguely interconnected short stories.

The writing style is good though. I like how huge pieces of information, especially about the lives of characters, are given away in just a line or two.

Updated 20 April: On its way to Gyd after spotting it on their wishlist!

It's just arrived, safe and sound!

Muchas gracias for your RABCK, Gothmarcus, and for the very nice postcard too :)
(to my tbr pile it goes, I hope it won't have to wait much to be read)

After reading Case Histories, which I just loved, I had to read another book from this author. Thanks again Gyd for the loan :)

It took me a while to get into this book, but after I got to know some of the characters better, I got hooked.
This book narrates the story of Ruby Lennox from her conception in 1951 until 1992. Between the chapters of her life story, you'll get to know all her family ancestors.
Thanks again Gyd for the loan :-)

This is my second attempt to read this book but I cannot say it's grabbing me that much. I have not much time to read currently so reading two or three pages at a time doesn't help at all.
I'll keep persevering a bit longer and then will be sent as a surprise to an unsuspecting fellow BC'er.... ;)

Update 31/Feb/08:
It's on its way back to UK!

Oooo, thank you Gyd!, I have wanted to read this book for a long time, so thank you for the surprise x

You know it's funny, my mother recommended this book to me about a year ago, so I put it and other books by Atkinson on my BC wishlist. I managed to get hold of and read many of her other books and really enjoyed them. Then finally I get hold of this one and I don't like it! LOL

It's a good job I didn't read this one first or I wouldn't have gone on to read any others by her. I found this book quite depressing, so many people die in it! I was annoyed by the way it kept going back into the past, but not in chronological order, it was very muddled.

Oh well, at least now I can say I've read it!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

I'm taking this to the Cherry Tree OBCZ meet in Oxfordshire tomorrow