From the award-winning author of Life After Life comes Kate Atkinson's Human Croquet, part fairy tale, part mystery, part coming-of-age novel
New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year

Human Croquet tells the story of Isobel Fairfax, a girl growing up in Lythe, a typical 1960s British suburb. But Lythe was once the heart of an Elizabethan feudal estate and home to a young English

...

Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired) leads a quiet life in the village of St. Mary, England, until his brother's death sparks an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the Pakistani shopkeeper from the village. Drawn together by their shared love of literature and the loss of their respective spouses, the Major and Mrs. Ali soon find their friendship blossoming into something more. But will their relationship survive in a society that considers...

Matt comes across photos of him as a child yet they seem unfamiliar; is it really him? He can't remember the clothes or the toys, and his sister Imogen is nowhere in the pictures. Since her childhood Imogen has loved the Summer House, a charming folly in the grounds of an ancient house on Exmoor and now she and her veterinary husband have the chance of buying. But her marriage is threatened when her husband refuses to live so far from his practice....

While Fairacre's new commuter lifestyle causes a sharp decline in enrollment at Miss Read's school, Miss Read focuses her attention on the ill health of her old friend, Dolly Clare.