BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE MUSEUM by Kate Atkinson

Well, well, well, yet another book by Kate Atkinson, this one her first novel, and  not a mystery novel, as were the others I read this winter.  

From the book jacket:   Ruby Lennox begins narrating her own life at the moment of her conception and from there takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of the twentieth century as seen through the eyes of a girl determined to learn more about her family and the secrets it keeps.

Set in Yorkshire, the book is extremely rich in detail and wit.  It's Atkinson's wit that I enjoy the most, I think: the scenes when the family goes on a summer farm trip with the next-door neighbours, the wedding scene in Chapter 10, are hilarious as much for her wry observation of life with the Lennox family as for the situations.

The novel is about family, but more specifically, I think, the relationship between mothers and daughters.  Ruby's mother, Bunty, was about as bad a mother as you can get, but there were reasons for her behaviour.

This is worth considering as a recommendation for Book Club next year. There is a Readers' Guide available on-line at Picador: I bookmarked it.

The book was published in 1999, and Kate Atkinson won the Whitbread Prize for best first novel in Great Britain for this book.