Hens dancing

Told through diary entries, this comic novel follows Venetia Summers, a divorced mother in her thirties living in the English countryside. She has three children, including two energetic boys and a baby girl her family calls The Beauty, and she still holds a controlling stake in her ex-husband's pet funeral business. Her collection of mismatched wellingties is almost as notable as her life.

Ten years after trading the city for the country, Venetia spends her days feeding and dressing her children, keeping a crumbling but charming old house standing, and looking after a flock of feather-footed bantams. The garden has grown wild, and her own mother is an unreliable helper, usually found with a vodka glass and a cigarette. A handsome but overconfident bathroom fitter arrives with an amorous Labrador, and a shifting cast of friends, relatives and village characters drifts through, causing trouble at every turn.

Venetia has a knack for finding beauty in the chaos, and she describes it all with sharp humour and plenty of energy. The result is a warm, funny look at bringing up a family in rural England, with its pleasures and its absurdities.