This is a beautifully written, warm and wonderful story in which Tabitha Ormiston-Smith has put the absurdness of life, the need for love and the wonder of the human soul all next to each other on a single slide under the microscope.
There are three main characters, Ben (the policeman), Tammy (hard working writer) and Tom (the cat). The plot is bonkers: it has to be the most madly conceived police operation of all time! You simply can’t take your girlfriend on a police undercover operation, riding through the bush on a horse-drawn caravan … bonkers but utterly brilliant! I suspect that is how she must see life in general.
I won’t say more about the plot (sorry if the above was a tiny bit of a spoiler). I will say that the author has created characters I believed in and absolutely felt for. She really had me yelling “No!” out loud at one point, desperately fearing for the very life of one of her main trio.
I am so glad I picked this book up. It isn’t what I normally read, and it won’t be for everyone I guess (what book is?), but it is an absolute peach of a story and an example of how to make life’s moments seem ten times as bright.
Tabitha must own a strange and magic lens to view the world through. Not having her particular prescription to hand, I will gladly settle for her description of what she sees through it: a peculiar place that is better than the real one.
A delightful little tale. Full marks!
