A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson (Doubleday)

This engaging novel features many of the characters from Kate Atkinson's hugely-successful Life After Life.

That book focused on Ursula Todd, who we saw living through some of the twentieth century's most cataclysmic periods time after time.

A God in Ruins is neither a squeal or prequel, but rather a companion piece to the first novel.

It follows the life of Ursula's brother Teddy, who struggles to find his place in life until war intervenes and he becomes a bomber pilot, living a precarious existence and involved in numerous dangerous raids over Europe.

Atkinson likes to play with chronology and so the action moves backwards and forwards in time and is told from the perspectives of various characters.

These include Teddy's mixed up daughter Viola, his pragmatic wife Nancy and two grandchildren, so there are always multiple interpretations of events and the protagonists.

It has a very elegiac and rather melancholy tone and some very harrowing scenes and I sometimes wished for a bit more light and less shade.

But the characters are brilliantly drawn, the subtleties of relationships skilfully portrayed and there are some terrific lines of dialogue.

And the literary twist at the end of the novel was totally unexpected and forced you to re-evaluate everything you had read up that point.

Atkinson is a clever author and always worth reading.