Well written, builds slowly, but you can't help feeling involved. Strong character voices, not stereotypes. ( )

I feel this needs an explanation, so I will confess to reading this book after watching old episodes of Emmerdale Farm, and the story and setting are nearly exactly what I was looking for. BUT, the characters are dreadful - more like what would happen if the Mitchells from EastEnders uprooted and moved to a Yorkshire farm! I don't think I felt sorry for one of them, apart from maybe Primrose, who has the good sense to get out of the Hartle family and start a new life. Father Joe is all passive aggressive pressure, wife Anne feels trapped, and the sons, Max and Bartholomew (never Bart, which also drove me mad), are pathetic creatures who are still fighting to be the favourite and blame everyone else when things go wrong. Ugh. The most dramatic - and upsetting - point in the whole book was the lambs.

Susie Steiner is a talented writer - her dialogue and descriptions are so evocative that I felt I really knew the family and their insular farming community. I just didn't want to. ( )