I forgot to say. I did read it on holiday. I always find that books I've read on holiday are always remembered with the warm glow of the associated sunshine.

I quite agree with Maverick's description, I love the way that the story is made up of so many tiny steps. I always disagree with a friend who would have liked to have lived in an earlier age. I always identify more with the person who had to scrub the grate or who suffered the agony of pre-anaesthetic childbirth, than a high society hostess or wolrd leader. It reminds me of the tragedy behind the untold stories on the walls of our art galleries. I wish that a world of religious mistrust and misunderstanding was part of our history not our present. I wish that child labour was in our past not our present.