The Herriott Hospice Homecare charity shop in Northallerton was selling all its paperbacks at Four for a Pound on Tuesday morning, so, having spotted one I was interested in, I had to find three more! Well, obviously! I chose this because I've previously enjoyed another book by this author, Burley Cross Postbox Theft, and because I was pretty sure tree-hugger would want to read it, if she hasn't already!

Amazon Editorial Review: "It's the summer of 1981. You're stuck in semi-derelict hotel on a tiny island off the coast of Devon. You're 16 years old and there's nothing to do but dream and wait for Soft Cell's "Tainted Love" to come out, until a ginger stranger arrives, stinking of antiseptic."

In the summer of 1981, the year of Tainted Love and Dolly Parton's Nine-to-Five, the colourfully-mouthed narrator, then 16 and living on an almost-island off the coast of Devon, encounters a 19-year old South African stranger. Between them, Medve and La Roux set off some memorable growing up fireworks ....

To tree-hugger! Enjoy!

Thanks for this Nu-Knees. I love a bit of Nicola Barker. 'Clear', 'Burley Cross' and 'The Yips' were all great and each very different from one another. So I'll look forward to reading this.

I'm a terrible bookcrosser, sorry. I'm about to move house, and am culling any 'to be read' books that have been hanging around unread for several years. I'm very sorry to keep this one so long and then pass it along unread, that's a rubbish thing to do.