Binding: Paperback
Date Published: 10 Sep 2026
The clever and compelling tale of a war-scarred journalist caught in the lives of a country rebuilding itself from one of the greatest chroniclers of our times, Kate Atkinson.
'An author who never lets you down' Reader's Digest
'Atkinson is a novelist of unrivalled immediacy, authority, and skill' Financial Times
'Kate Atkinson is simply one of the best writers working today' Gillian Flynn, global bestselling author of Gone Girl
It's the summer of 1951 and everyone is looking to put the dark days of the war behind them. The government's solution: The Festival of Britain, a celebration of the country's creativity, grit and ingenuity.
For foreign correspondent turned war reporter Harry Flynn, it might offer the chance of redemption after a bad war in the Far East and a peace that is proving no easier to negotiate. Having failed to resume his journalistic career, he reluctantly joins an oddball team of misfits, ne'er-do-wells and downright chancers helping to ready the Festival of Britain for launch.
Flynn's attempts to resume some semblance of a romantic life also founder when one of his dates goes missing and he is deemed to be the last person to have seen her alive. Could he have been in some way responsible for her disappearance?
Little does he realize that the answer to some of his mounting problems may lie in the hands of a precocious, straight-talking thirteen-year-old called Veronica and a rather scruffy terrier who goes by the name of Mrs Betty...