I have to admit that having loved Simon Dawson's previous book, this one felt like a bit of a disappointment, but I think my reading of it was colored by my mounting discomfort at one of the relationships portrayed in it. This was between a teenaged boy, often shown in the text to be very immature, and a woman in her thirties - the boy was sent to the farm by his parents because they were concerned about this relationship but the attitude of the narrative seemed very "Whahaaay, go on son!" There was an author's note at the back saying some of the characters were fictionalized and I really hope this boy was.