Another vivid, thoughtful, emotional novel from Kay. Each character springs to life as soon as introduced, and their surroundings are wonderfully described. Kay is a master at detailing how lives intersect and the results of those intersections - occasionally his omniscent narrator goes back to tell the reader what would have happened if things were different. It's a lovely weaving of events and characters. This book shares a world with several of his other novels, if you've read them you'll know when those threads come into the story. This one, like most of his books, is not set in our world but is loosely based on an historical period and/or historical events. You'll recognize some of them. There's a helpful list of characters in the front as there is quite a large cast. I highly recommend Kay, you can't go wrong.