A magical story, full of poetry and lyricism, but also full of the earth and its glories. Lucy and her Grandpa are very close. They love tending Grandpa's garden together, and he tells Lucy lots of stories about his 'helper' Lob, whom not everyone can see. Granny Annie and Lucy's parents think the stories are good fun, but just that. Lucy and Grandpa know differently. They have been gifted with being able to see Lob, a version of the Green Man of legend. When Grandpa dies suddenly while out tending his leeks, Lucy, who lives in London, is shocked and saddened. Her lovely holidays with her grandparents in cosy Clunny Cottage must come to an end, and what will Lob do? The novel then becomes a dual story, Lucy's and Lob's as Lucy comes to terms with her Grandpa's death and Lob makes his way to London amidst all the noises and confusion of modern life. They come together again on a London allotment where a garden once again becomes important to them both. The characters Lob meets along the way are vividly drawn, and he even becomes involved in the Chelsea Flower Show. Linda Newbery is a poet as well as a prose writer, and her poems of the earth, sprinkled through the text and printed in large print, add greatly to the whole. But that whole has a lyrical quality all the way through that will appeal particularly to sensitive children with a love of natural things. The many illustrations in black and white are also naturalistic and very lovely. It seems that in Lucy's mind, Lob and her Grandpa are almost one and the same, and when Lob comes into her life again, so does her Grandpa. A lovely story for those who love magic. The novel has 218 pages, but with the myriad of illustrations and the largish print, it is a quick read and a very good one.