AT FIRST The History of Love is hard to follow, seems disjointed and doesn t appear to be going anywhere. What can a very elderly old chap who escaped the Nazis and fled to America in the wake of his childhood sweetheart have to do with a 14-year-old girl

AT FIRST The History of Love is hard to follow, seems disjointed and doesn't appear to be going anywhere. What can a very elderly old chap who escaped the Nazis and fled to America in the wake of his childhood sweetheart have to do with a 14-year-old girl grieving for her father?

There are joys all along the way and Leo Gursky's elderly man is a masterly creation, especially from the pen of a young woman. But it was difficult trying to connect one character with another and follow the path of the mysterious book that is the lynchpin of the whole plot.

Then the miracle happened as it so often does. The tangled threads unravelled and rewove into a majestic whole, a glorious, flame-coloured ode to love, joy and endurance.

Read, persevere and relish every detail. Then read and relish again...and again...and probably again.

Thanks to Ottakar's of Stevenage 4/5