Campari for Breakfast
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By Sara Crowe
avg rating
1 review
‘Reads like a cross between I Capture the Castle and Love, Nina, with a pinch of Adrian Mole’ The Bookseller
‘We defy you not to love Sue’ Good Housekeeping
‘Campari for Breakfast is truly, charmingly splendid’ Lucy Robinson
Life is full of terrible things. Ghosts of dead relatives, heartbreak . . . burnt toast.
In 1987, Sue Bowl’s world changes for ever. Her mother dies, leaving her feeling like she’s lost a vital part of herself. And then her father shacks up with an awful man-eater called Ivana.
But Sue’s mother always told her to make the most of what she’s got – and what she’s got is a love of writing and some eccentric relatives. So Sue moves to her Aunt Coral’s crumbling ancestral home, where she fully intends to write a book and fall in love . . . and perhaps drink Campari for breakfast
Campari for Breakfast is a heart-warming, eccentric novel that joins the ranks of great British coming-of-age novels such as Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle and Nancy Mitford’s The Pursuit of Love.
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Sue Bowl is a superstar, in the dark days at the end of Winter in early 2015 she cheered Houghton Reading Group up no end. With her hilarious use of the English language and unique take on the world, Sue had many members laughing out loud.
The cast of characters surrounding and supporting Sue added to the charm and warmth of the novel, it felt like an honest coming of age story with episodes many of us will remember ourselves. The battle to save Aunt Coral's crumbling pile brings the random collection of lodgers and inhabitants together, it feels a bit like Adrian Mole met Dad's Army with a bit of Agatha Christie style mystery thrown in for good measure.
The book is genuinely moving when Sue confronts what her family looks like after her Mum dies, but all the way you are rooting for her and Aunt Coral and when she gets her Campari for Breakfast moment you couldn't be more pleased for her.
