Not all bliss but written with perception and compassion, this is the antithesis of those over-hyped misery memoirs. As well as a portrait of the highs and lows of family life, it is a beautiful evocation of life in a small Cornish town between the Wars. Emma Smith recalls her world through a child's eyes. Her last words are "Goodbye, my childhood!" and throughout there is a lingering sense of Paradise (however imperfect) lost.
(Jenny Baker - bwl 49 January 2009 ) |
