If you can suspend disbelief long enough to believe that three children, the oldest 13, who have just lost their well-loved and eccentric grandfather, are able to organise a viking funeral for him, then this book is for you. Carla, the 13 year old, Woody and Penny, her siblings, and some assorted friends who ultimately have to be brought in on the secret, are horrified that grandpa is to have an ordinary, staid funeral and be buried next to grandma, who was a harriden. They know he wanted to be sent out to sea in a burning boat, and so they organise stealing him from the mortuary and a way to give him the send off he wanted. If the details are a tad difficult to accept, the adventure is tremendous, and the final chapters that take place in the midst of the chaos of the town's carnival are richly and chaotically described. The real strength of this novel is in the children's emotions, particularly Carla's who was very close to grandpa; she is the organising genius behind the unlikely plot. They succeed, of course, and their parents seem as happy with the result as they are themselves. Set in North Somerset on the edge of the Bristol Channel, the place is lovingly described, and while I may have had trouble believing the plot, I, too, almost shouted with relief when grandpa and his small burning ship slipped out to sea.