What an unexpectedly delightful book! Given the title, if it weren't for all those 5 star reviews on Amazon, I would not have read this book. Part love story, part humor and part British culture, it feels as if the author just created her colorful characters and let them loose in the British country side to do what they would. Along the way, they grapple with intolerance, disappointing children, urban sprawl, small-town gossip, religious fundamentalism, brash Americans, and all the good and bad of families.

At the center of the book is the Major, 68, decidedly British old-school and proud of it. The Major says things like, "Black tie is not a [dance] theme, it's the preferred attire of people of good breeding" and you still root for him, I suppose because he doesn't take himself seriously, or maybe it's the author who does not: "The whole event was unworthy of a golf club of pedigree, and the Major had considered writing a letter of protest. He had composed several serious but witty versions in his mind." Maybe it's just me, but I laughed out loud at this passage.

My Dad used to subscribe to Punch magazine, which, as a youngster, I found completely inexplicable since I could find absolutely nothing funny in it. Now I'm wondering.

What really endeared me to this book is the love story. It's got me thinking that maybe being 60 years old won't be so bad after all.