This is the US title of The Picture Book, one of my favourite novels of the last year. Lyrical and lucid, the book's series of snapshots from the life of one family over most of a century has lingered in my mind over the months since I read it in a way that many a wordier tome would envy. Baker's characters are tenderly, but not uncritically examined, their foibles as well as their heroism, and she has a gift for the unexpected turn of descriptive phrase which catalyzes a broader understanding. A lovely novel.