Ebenezer Le Page, a man of the Channel 4 Islands, tells his story from the moment we meet him; in mid sentence, we are spellbound. He is funny and contrary with a furious, loving attachment to the past and an old man's querulous ness towards the now. His is a life crammed rich with family quarrels, tragedies, and neighboring feuds that reach across generations and between sexes. A remarkable creation, this is a hypnotic story of enduring friendships and sorrows, joys and loves, kinships and animosities, a brilliant and intricate novel - a classic. Edwards has created a unique voice. In his introduction, John Fowles tells us that Edwards "...manages...despite the way characters meander almost haphazardly in and out of his pages, despite the minute stitch of social detail, to carry us through with him, at times to the point where we no longer care how inconsequential or digressive the story becomes, as long as that voice is still speaking."