I am not a huge reader. I read maybe ten or twelve books a year, and when I do I tend to go for recognized and known authors, usually dead ones! My girlfriend read this and made me read it. While she was reading it we didn't talk very often. I got to watch the rugby in peace! When I read it she had the same problem with me. This is a beautiful, heartbreaking, powerfully emotive book, and is ultimately a book of redemption and resolution. It is sometimes funny, often sad, and is written with some kind of magic touch that I have never come across before. It is quite something else altogether. I loved this book -- by far the best book I have read this year, last year, the year before.