The Cold Ashby Rambler

This review of 'Instructions for a Heatwave' almost compels one to read the novel! The more years spent reading ancient or modern literature, the more I am convinced that really good story telling (whether in drama, poetry or the novel) is all about the balance, timing and pace of revelation and concealment. You also mention her evocation of place. I am reading my first ever Ian Rankin novel at the moment and have been struck by how crucial that is to his fiction In terms of persuading the reader that it all could be real. As for the heatwave of 1976, well , my memory of it as an 8 year old is that it WAS really memorable and a strange mixture of the idylllic and the
sinister. Playing in the sun and ice creams on the
one hand, but worries about water shortages etc. on the other. I can remember dried up reservoirs etc.