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Junior
David Fickling Books
Hardback £10.99
ISBN: 0385607547
Reviewed by Dennis Hamley
[Armadillo 6.3 Autumn 2004]
There is an important difference between the latest book about the Quigleys and its two predecessors. They were very funny. Quigleys Not For Sale is very, very funny. These books transcend conventional family comedy. The controlled anarchy of the Quigley mœnage and the wonderfully clich¹-free inimitability of Lucy, Will, Mum and Dad raise them high above others in the genre. Simon Mason's witty, exact prose, radiating humour without need to strive for it, is a joy.
The book contains four stories. In Charming Will, the Quigley's weekend hotel break is reduced to chaos. After the children cause a disaster in the sauna, Will attempts charm to extricate himself from the mess. In Clever Lucy the children hatch ever wilder plans to make money for Dad to pay for the øtacksÓ (he is worrying over his tax return). In Out with Mum they well-meaningly ruin her birthday and in Not For Sale they fight a rearguard action to stop the family moving. There is not a misfiring joke throughout, not a single false note, just pure, glorious fun.