"His novel depends not on story and suspense but on the delightful, ironic and professional writing" - Thomas Hinde, The Spectator
 
"By mingling knockabout comedy and high seriousness Carr achieves a rare honesty, a kind of soured sweetness found in the work of no other contemporary writer" - DJ Taylor
 
Hidden lives are exposed, secret memories unearthed in this wry, vivid novel which moves like a thriller to its startling climax. A Day in Summer that is the annual 'feast' at Great Minden; a day of predictable delights and celebrations for the locals, and for many it may be so. But then the early train brings Peplow, intent on avenging his young son's death - the target, a young showman unconscious of his danger.
 
The newcomer and the residents each have their own agenda, their own choices to make, their own pasts to deal with. Ruskin is an embittered ex-RAF pilot, confined to his wheelchair and the first floor flat with its view across the fair, living vicariously through the daily round of his neighbours. As for Croser, a libidinous young teacher, should he stay with nubile but dull hairdresser Effie, or elope with the Rector's bewitching, exotic, restless wife Georgie?
 
As the characters and the sub-plots entwine, this tale of revenge becomes more of a black comedy. Departing on the evening train, Peplow is not the only one to consider the day's events and to ponder its unexpected conclusions.