Set in the early sixties, this book is told form the perspective of a pre-adolescent boy observing his family members and neighbours. Through a series of episodes, we very gradually piece together the back story of a relative, Marcel, and his and others' role in the complex society of occupied Belgium in the second world war.

The joy of this book is in the way it is told. The delightful descriptive phrases and a love of language lead us towards the subtle conclusion. Like the narrator trying to understand the adult world, we are not privy to all the details of the story, and it is the understated details which are those that piece together to make sense of Marcel.

A few examples of the fine phrasing from the first few pages:
* "The cellar stored, the attic forgot"
* "The grandmother blessed them [photographs of the dead] with her duster"
* Of a relative who became a nun: "She had toned down her voice to a permanent whisper, mouse-grey mutterings from an anaemic rodent of the Lord"

A gorgeous short to book to linger over and re-read. ( )