This novel is kind of eccentric, poetic and wondrously readable. I'm no expert but it's fabulously well written - the description of place and time and event and people fairly leap off the page and it's one of those novels that both takes you places in your imagination while at the same time making you think. C is a bit of an unusual character - slightly dysfunctional, slightly detached and yet really likeable. C taught me things I certainly didn't know - the early days of drug addiction in the first world war was something I had ever heard of - but that and every part of this story is brilliantly told. I loved this book. My family tease me because my one word summary on finishing books I've enjoyed is usually "terrific"!!!!! I now realise how much I've over-used that descriptor - but not in this case. C is genuinely "terrific!"