PositiveThe GuardianDivided into a love story and a crime drama, the two parts are separated by 35 of the grisliest pages I have read in some time. This shift requires some readjustment for the reader, but Waters is so confident – and, line by line, her writing so beautiful, precise and polished – that she sweeps all before her. I succumbed … Waters is particularly good at building up the details of domesticity in an age when there were not yet the labour-saving devices to make it easier and less time-consuming … The growth of Frances and Lilian's relationship is exquisitely handled, and includes detailed set-pieces such as an afternoon ‘rinking’ – rollerskating – and the most eyebrow-raising game of Snakes and Ladders you will ever come across.
