Kate Atkinson's writing is so good it makes me want to jump up and down cheering like a sports fan. She has a fluid, immersive quality that engages me completely in a way few novelists do. That quality is especially evident here in the story of Teddy Todd, the brother of
Life after Life's Ursula Todd. His story begins between the wars and lasts into our current century, with an important chunk spent piloting Halifax bombers over Germany during the war. But Atkinson shows us the story with linear time fractured (she uses the word fractals in the novel) into kaleidoscopic bits. We see key moments in Teddy's life as he might remember them himself - one thought leading to another, back and forth through time. Far from being confusing, this works beautifully in Atkinson's skilled hands, as though there were no better way to write a novel.
And if that weren't enough, in Teddy Atkinson has given us a wonderful 20th century man and an almost lovable character. His decency towards the men in his command, his wife, daughter, and grandchildren is practically sexy. While he and his wife don't have a bad romance, they do have an intriguing one.
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