My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Mack looked legit, like a young Indiana Jones, only more anaemic and homely, you know? Who’d have thought under all that gabardine and paleness there’d beat the heart of a scumbag?

 

Just knowing he’s next to me helps me switch off my brain which has been delivering a long lecture with PowerPoint slides all evening, entitled, ‘An illustrated history of all the completely obvious ways gullible, naive Jude was manipulated by Dr Mack the snake’…

 

I’ve never been anywhere apart from here… Except for in books; I’ve been twice around the globe and halfway across the galaxy in books.

My Review:

 

This was a light and fun tale that was cast with a bevy of oddly enticing and eccentric small village characters that kept me grinning and fully engaged as I read their descriptions and interactions. This was only my second time reading this talented scribe and I easily fell into her words and enjoyed her storytelling, dialogs, and the endearing main character Jude’s inner musings. Oh, how I adored Jude!

 

The storylines and writing style were evocative, cleverly amusing, shrewdly paced, and easy to follow while laced with relevant real-world problems. The narrative was unpredictable and scrolled smoothly and believably and dealt with several rather serious issues while remaining unfailingly entertaining due to Ms. Dunbar’s adroit word skills. I will be chasing this author until the day I die for more of her clever arrangements of words.

 

And, score! I picked up a new entry to my Brit word list with cutpurse, which the omnipotent Mr. Google informed me, is a pickpocket.