My Five Word TL:DR Review: Gentle, cosy, humorous, historical fiction

Kate Atkinson is such a fantastic author. I’ve read many of her books and I adore her quirky sense of humour and the way she manages to bring her characters to life. Our Noble Selves is a quirky, unusual, murder mystery where the murder mystery is far from being central to the plot, and what it manages to do is capture the period with absolute perfection, the voices, the characters, they behave how you would expect and on top of that the whole essence of the story feels like an amazing representation of an era.

It’s 1951 and in an effort to boost morale in the wake of the war the Government decide to hold an event to cheer people up a little, a celebration of creativity and ingenuity and an actual true historic event known as The Festival of Britain. Harry Flynn agrees to help organise the event. A journalist come war reporter Harry is at a bit of a loose end when he joins this strange bunch of misfits in a strange bid to get his life back on track. Unfortunately, having gone on a rather unsuccessful date with a prickly woman who had little interest in Harry his world is turned upside down when said woman in question goes missing. Harry is the last one to have seen his ‘girlfriend’ and soon enough the police come looking for him.

Now, as I mentioned above the murder mystery plays second fiddle to the characters and shenanigans that take place in this story and that are all trade mark Atkinson.

Harry is a total bumblefest. I mean literally he gets played like a fiddle! And his biggest helpers are a 13 year old girl and a terrier. That should give you some indication of what to expect.

To be fair I don’t really think I can share too much more with you all. So, read it.

This is really well written. It evokes the period with style. The characters are a lot of fun. There is murder and espionage. And lets not forget, there is a Festival to organise – never forget that. There’s a lot to do and so everyone needs to pull up their socks, keep their chins up and jolly well get on with it.

This was very enjoyable and easy to read, it was fun, evocative and exactly what I anticipated coming from this author. It might not be my favourite of her books to date – but, there is a lot of competition for that particular slot given her previous books – however, it was downright good reading. I look forward to seeing what this author comes up with next.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

My rating 4 of 5 stars