In a fishbone church Book

There is a lot to like about this novel: it is crisply written, engaging, and contains some memorable characters and incidents. Its chief weakness is that it starts out focusing on one character, family patriarch Clifford Stilton, but ends up being more about his children and grandchildren. They are supposed to be under the influence of Clifford and his diary, but that influence never adds up to anything conclusive.[return][return]The novel is strongly reminiscent of a family memoir. Elizabeth Jane Howard, to take one example, is a writer who is excellent at taking this kind of material and shaping it into a coherent and moving story. But this is Catherine Chidgey's first novel, and, at least at that stage of her career, she did not have the same firm grasp on her material. It's an entertaining and well-written read, but ultimately something of a let-down.