SMALL BOMB AT DIMPERLEY

Discover the heartwarmingly witty new historical novel about changing sometimes reluctantly with the times in the aftermath of WW2 perfect for fans of Maggie O Farrell and Rachel Joyce A deeply pleasurable postwar tale Guardian Generous touching and romantic Clare Chambers One of our finest writers of literary entertainment Spectator Sometimes books that are this funny are easy to underestimate but Small Bomb at Dimperley is wiser than a good many ponderously serious tomes An absolute joy to read The Times It s 1945 and Corporal Valentine Vere Thissett aged 23 is on his way home But home is Dimperley built in the 1500s vast and dilapidated up to its eaves in debt and half full of fly blown taxidermy and dependent relatives the latter clinging to a way of life that has gone forever And worst of all following the death of his heroic older brother Valentine is now Sir Valentine and is responsible for the whole bloody place To Valentine it s a millstone to Zena Baxter who has never really had a home before being evacuated there with her small daughter it s a place of wonder and sentiment somewhere that she can t bear to leave But Zena has been living with a secret and the end of the war means she has to face a reckoning of her o