'THE BOOK OF THE SUMMER' Sunday Times'A tour de force' Sarah Winman, author of Still LifeThis is the story of an old English manor house by the sea, with crumbling chimneys, draping ivy and a library full of dusty hardbacks. It's the story of the three children who grow up there, and the adventures they create for themselves while the grown-ups entertain endless party guests. This is the story of a whale that washes up on a beach, whose bones are claimed by a twelve-year-old girl with big ambitions and an even bigger imagination.

An unwanted orphan who...