Falling in Love with the Whole Family

My favourite family in all fiction is Hilary McKay’s Casson family – there’s a series, starting with Saffy’s Angel. That's the one I want to belong to – I explained here that all the children have colour names, and I encouraged others to choose their colour in case Hilary wants to adopt us (go on, H). I am Alabama Crimson, a minx who tosses her hair a lot. One time on Twitter loads of us pitched in picking names – writers, readers, editors, publishers – it’s amazing how many people love the Casson books. And in addition they are ideal reading for someone who is ill See Best Book for a Convalescent It is fair to say I fell in love with them. When Nancy Mitford first read (in 1944) an advance copy of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited, she sent the author, a close friend, a most enthusiastic letter, including this: “so true to life being in love with a whole family”. I wrote about the book in the Guardian more than 10 years ago Guardian Books Blog: Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh…