The Facts of Life

This is one of those books that really is general fiction with just a touch of fantasy or perhaps magical realism. And yet that touch brought it to the forefront of readers enough to win it the 2003 World Fantasy Award. The book is about a large, quirky family, some of the members being able to see ghosts. It takes place during and shortly after WWII in Coventry, England. Joyce has been compared to many authors, but I'd say he reminds me most of early John Irving. The prose is luscious and the characters are, well, quirky. And I found it to be one of the most entertaining, engrossing, and tear-jerky novels I've read in a long time.

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