This novel is a remarkable ‘romp’, and as kids won’t have any trouble suspending disbelief, I think they will love it. However, as an adult reader, I couldn’t help but marvel at the remarkable adventures of Luna, 10, and her sister Margot, about 12 or 13, and brother Fabien, about 8 presumably. When billionaire Eric Harding decides to give away his Scottish island, and at the same time Luna’s family are about to be evicted from their London flat because her dad has depression and doesn’t work any more, she writes a letter to the eccentric man and wins the island. Luckily, mum is a whiz at coping, because when they arrive at their new home, the house is very dirty and neglected (there are bats in the kitchen). Dad isn’t capable of helping – he sleeps most of the time – and mum and the kids must do all the work. Luna desperately wants to start a donkey sanctuary, Margot is into airplanes in a big way and mourns the loss of London and all it holds, and young Fabien loves nothing more than knitting items of every description. Fair play to gender differences then! They are a resourceful lot, exploring their island and finding a stable (for the donkeys), a bunch of goats (for Fabien’s knitting) and parts of an old airplane that Margot plans to re-assemble. The children decide that the best way to cheer up dad is to have a festival on the island, but they don’t tell their parents what is happening. Their efforts to get away with this mean another suspension of disbelief, but they almost manage until mum discovers what is going on just before the festival is to happen. All looks lost, but thanks to neighbours on the mainland, an old ice cream van, a broken-down stage, and two remarkable music bands, they manage to put together their festival and it is a huge success with all their new friends! The number of bumbling accidents, the arrival of Mr Harding in his airplane, and the general chaos all cram together into a whole that is funny and fun, and in the end, dad is getting better. One thinks that probably his dippy children and their rather Enid Blyton type adventures would either have killed him or cured him. Thank goodness for the latter!