A fascinating read for the most part. I particularly loved the beginning, all those details of childhood and vulnerability. The missing eleven days frustrated me no end and the travelogue/archaeological stuff did begin to pall after a while. But oh those details of living in wartime, especially the first, was exactly the sort of stuff I've been hungering and the exact same stuff I found so absorbing in the Westmacott novels. The derision of modern attitudes in favour of old modes did grate but not so much that I wanted to stop reading. If anything, every time I put the book down I chafed to get back, to live in her world.

And rather chillingly there's one piece of writing advice that seems to skewer exactly what I'm battling at the moment. Freakish timing and accuracy.