I’ve loved Kate Atkinson’s books ever since I read Behind the Scenes at the Museum back in 2007. Well, I should put an asterisk on that and say all the books I’ve read, because I don’t really have any interest in her detective novels (like Case Histories) since I’m not a big reader of that genre. Of the ones on my shelf (pictured), the only one I haven’t yet read is Not the End of the World, a collection of short stories. I’ve had a copy of Human Croquet for a few years now, and this week finally got around to reading it. I was gratified to discover that it’s in a similar theme as Museum and her Todd family books — that is, generational family saga with time slippage added in for good effect.

The main character is Isobel Fairfax. Although Isobel’s present is the 1960s, she lives in a suburb that was once an aristocrat’s estate, and there’s even a reputed connection to the Bard himself. Isobel lives in the house owned by her domineering grandmother (The Widow), shared with her misanthropic aunt Vinny, her older brother, Charles, and for at least part of the time, her parents, Gordon and Eliza. Eliza’s disappearance, and the hole that absence leaves in her children’s lives, forms the crux of the novel, but because this is Atkinson writing, there’s dark humor and a touch of magic so that the story isn’t bogged down by so much wretchedness.