It's 1976, England is in the midst of a heatwave and Margaret Creasy has gone missing. Her husband insists she will return soon, but his eccentric and erratic behaviour has the neighbours gossiping. Meanwhile mysterious and unspoken horrors which surround number 11 and its sole inhabitant, the outcast Walter Bishop, are ever present in the minds of the residents of The Avenue.
The Trouble with Goats and Sheep is a charming yet compelling exploration of neighbourly relationships and the secrets we keep. Told via a dual narrative, it weaves between the perspective of 10 year old Grace and a third person narrator which fills in the gaps between Grace's naive and innocent take on the world.
Grace and her best friend Tilly take it upon themselves to investigate, not just the disappearance of Mrs Creasy, but the existence and whereabouts of God. Their explorations lead us through the mystery of the novel, but also turn it into a charming coming of age story. The girls' story is both sweet and humorous, reminding us of the innocence which is lost as we grow up and are confronted with the harsh realities of adult life.
This book has been sitting on my 'to be read' shelf for years now, and I'm not sure why i left it so long. It is a quirky, compelling story infused with an underlying sadness and was, ultimately, a really easy read.
Grace and Tilly were, for me, the stars of the story. I loved following them and their unique, funny take on the world. The name of the novel comes from a reference in Church which leads them on to 'look for God' finding eventually not God, but Jesus, revealing himself to them in a drainpipe.
My only tiny gripe was with the ending. As it became clear the story was drawing to a close, I found myself racing through the pages, eager to reach the conclusion. As I turned to what I thought was the final chapters, I was confronted instead with a preview of the author's next book. The story had finished without me noticing. Had I known I had been reading the very end, perhaps I would have been more satisfied, but I felt there were still a couple of loose ends I wanted tying up.
Still, if my main criticism of a book is that I wanted more, it must have been a pretty good read.
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