'When I was a kid, my Auntie Jan used to buy me books for Christmas. As soon as she and my uncle arrived for lunch, I'd be eyeballing the presents, sizing up their shapes, silently reassuring myself that my relatives were going to deliver again this year. As soon as decorum (and my mother's beady eye) allowed, I'd lunge for that book-shaped present with all the undignified enthusiasm of one of the Melling Sisters you'll meet in this wonderful book.' (Introduction)