Some folk say that we spend a lot of our adult lives trying to recapture
the moments in our childhood when we were truly happy, before all the
baggage and tangle of adult life took over. In a way that's what Joanna Cannon's
book is partly about. In 1976 Grace and Tilly are ten year olds and the
long summer of that famous heatwave will be that time. Not that far away
in Lancashire in the same summer I was also ten and remember it like
yesterday as Grace does. The two girls set out to solve the mystery of
the missing Mrs Creasy. Early in their investigation they decide that
consulting the ultimate witness will do the trick, so they resolve to
first find God. He's bound to know. The point of view of Grace is told
in a past tense first person style not unlike how Harper Lee's 'To Kill a
Mockingbird' told Scout's view of the adult world, with the innocent
perspective of the child armed with the vocabulary and the descriptive
powers of an adult. These scenes work very well and thoroughly charmed
me. She evoked the era by peppering the narrative with brand names
(mostly gone now), tv and loads of other cultural stuff synonymous with
the era and the place. Perhaps there was a little too much consumption
of the Angel Delight though at least I'll remember what my tea towel is
called. What lets the book down to a degree is the fairly dull third
person accounts of the adult's POV both in 1976 and the frequent
flashbacks of 1967. Unfortunately the story would hardly progress
without them so they are necessary goatishness . The bright whimsy of
the young duo make most of the adult character's existences all the
duller in contrast. The Trouble With Goats and Sheep is that the goats
just aren't as good as the sheep.
This review was of an Advanced Reading Copy provided by Harper Collins.
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