This is not the usual kind of book I would read, and coming so soon after the masterpiece that is Lessons IN Chemistry, it was always going to struggle. All the female characters in this novel are complex in their own way. The mother who is lonely but who cannot communicate that with her adult daughter so uses emotional blackmail to make her spend time with her. The central character who on the one hand is a fairly modern woman in that she has a fairly masculine job, especially for the time period, and she isn't afraid to investigate stories and speak to a wide variety of people. The daughter resulting from the 'virgin' birth is a complicated child and relates to adults in a completely adult way. The Swiss woman struggling with her sexuality. In fact the simplest and in a lot of ways the most honest and ethical person is the male character. He is by far the most likeable character in the book.

The biggest problem with this apart from the ending which felt like it belonged to a different book, was just that it was so slow. If you want to read in detail how to clean your doorstep then you're in luck! Having said that though, at no point did I feel like giving up and I read the whole thing. It was a slow burn but on balance I'm glad that I met the characters.