Criticising Dawn French feels like kicking a puppy. She’s so winning that the nation was even tempted to let The Vicar of Dibley slide.
Criticising Dawn French feels like kicking a puppy. She’s so winning that the nation was even tempted to let The Vicar of Dibley slide. The same is true of her debut novel, A Tiny Bit Marvellous (Michael Joseph, £18.99), which has its heart in the right place, in spite of reading as though it’s jumping up and slobbering over your trousers.
We share the alternating reflections of three members of the very middle-class Battle family:
49-year-old mother Mo, 17-year-old Dora, and 16-year-old aesthete Peter (who has renamed himself Oscar, after Wilde, and says things like ‘Pater’ and ‘le chapeau juste’), in the run-up to Mo’s and Dora’s watershed birthdays.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in