Just finished
The Orchard On Fire by
Shena Mackay:
When Percy and Betty Harlency abandon their seedy Streatham pub for the Copper Kettle Tearoom in Kent, life for their daughter, April, changes dramatically. She is befriended by the wonderfully dangerous Ruby, whose red hair and brutal home life emphasize her love of fire, and by the creepy but immaculately dressed Mr Greedridge, who likes to follow her around the village.
Mingling the innocent with the sinister and laced with the tragic and the bizarre, this is a true evocation on a 1950s childhood.
Excellent novel: great characters who you really empathise with, really well written with wit & compassion - definitely recommend it