Instructions for a Heatwave – Maggie O’Farrell

Not as speedy a read ad the date might suggest – I got distracted by A Journey to Nowhere, more in the mood for some foreign travel rather than travelling back in time to 1976.

But having completed my diversion into Courland, I returned to Instructions for a Heatwave and found Maggie O’Farrell on her usual excellent form, following the London-Irish Riordan family through a tough few days during the sweltering summer of ’76. I particularly liked her description of The Imaginary People In The Kitchen which comes after the end of the novel proper, and which explains its origins.

Publisher page: Instructions for a Heatwave – Maggie O’Farrell