This is a difficult one to describe without ruining anything for potential readers. It opens with three men in a pub - short Mr Hughes, Mr Puw (with his black beard and pipe) and tall Mr Hughes (with his alligator obsession). Septic Barry and the Children from Previous Relationships are on the other side of the pub, and Mr Edwards is pulling pints behind the bar. All is as it should be. Then a Japanese-looking girl arrives, orders a pint, and sits in the corner of the room under the stuffed pike. 'Welcome back', everyone says.

Here we switch to Miyuki's point of view, and the story begins to unfold. Who is she? Every year she arrives in this little coastal town in Wales by herself, stays a fortnight walking and drinking and reading, then leaves again. Why is she here? How about all the eccentric individuals in the pub - what are their stories? The rest of the book meanders through each day of her stay, adding little by little to the rich tapestry of the town and the people in it as events unfold, and reaching deeper into Miyuki's life back home. Rhodes is very amusing - there are some real unexpected laugh-out-loud moments - and delights in whipping the rug out from under the reader with unexpected revelations and little twists.

Different, quirky, and beautiful - one of the best books I've read this year so far. ( )

This is a lovely, charming book, and a very quick read. It tells the story of Miyuki, a half Japanese, half Welsh woman, who holidays on her own in the same small Welsh village every year. Nothing in the village ever changes, and not an awful lot ever happens. This being the case, there is a bit of repetition in the book, but this is characteristic of the people and place, and does not detract at all.

However, on this particular holiday, Miyuki decides to get creative with some gold paint, and this leads to a chain of events, which become a big talking point in the village. While this is ostensibly the foundation of the plot, in truth the book is more about a journey of discovery for Miyuki and the assembled cast of characters. Along the way, we as readers learn about Miyuki, her background, her relationships and her insecurities.

For me, the book did not live up to the claim on the cover, of being hilarious, but it was amusing in places, and poignant in other places, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is the kind of book which I like to curl up with on a cold Sunday afternoon (and that is in fact exactly what I did)!, and which makes you smile. I was also unprepared for the surprise ending, which was (deliberately I’m sure) ambiguous.

Overall, I would highly recommend this quirky little gem. ( )

This started okay for me and I didn't expect to give it more than 3 stars to be honest. However, the second half of the book was much improved and we got to know the characters a bit more. Every year, for two weeks, Miyuki leaves her lover Grindl at home and visits the same seaside village. The locals know who she is but nothing about her. This year she decides to do something different which starts a chain of events that seem to change Miyuki.

An ambiguous ending (or so I thought) leaves you to wonder a lot. This really works in this case. The characters are so stereotypical of a local pub, it's fabulous. The novel is driven by the characters rather than the plot and I can why it was a little slow to begin with as they need to be drawn out for the reader to understand. A good short novel. One worth reading but not necessarily one that would make me seek out his other work. ( )

A warm and gentle book that somehow kept me reading until the small hours of the morning. Fairly light on plot, but Rhodes manages to create a comfortable atmosphere that lulls you before he skillfully whips the rug out from beneath your feet with his surprise ending. A perfect companion for a rainy afternoon or two. ( )

A gently humorous novel about Miyuki and her annual trip to the same Welsh seaside village out of season, where she walks, reads, and drinks beer for a fortnight before going home refreshed to her lover.
Out of season the village is sleepy and night after night the same small group of people frequent the pub - Short Mr Hughes, Tall Mr Hughes, Mr Puw and Septic Barry among them. Miyuki who's been going back for quite a few years, easily slips into place - until she feels herself compelled to do something that pushes else everyone into action.
The characters are all strongly drawn, and with that touch as in "The last of the summer wine", you can't dislike any of them with all their little obsessions and peccadilloes. As Miyuki's fortnight holiday goes on, we gradually find out more about her and them and grow to love them all which makes the twist at the end all the more of a surprise.
Highly recommended. ( )