Scottish book of the week 9/10

It Takes One to Know One Isla Dewar, Polygon, £8.99

You know that annoying expression ’You had me at hello’? Well, that’s a bit how I’d sum up the effect bestselling author Isla Dewar’s latest book had on me. From the opening chapter, intriguingly called It Never Just Drizzles in Hollywood, I was hooked, immediately attracted to the three main protagonists Sophie, Martha and Charlie.

It’s Portobello, 1969. Sophie and Martha are mother and daughter, living together again with Martha’s daughter Evie. Now in her late 30s, Martha had 15 minutes of almost fame in a rock band, but failed to make it big.

Widowed Sophie has a cake business and walks the seafront hoping to outpace her grief.

Then there’s Charlie Gavin – without a birth certificate, he doesn’t know who he is or where he came from.

As the director of the Be Kindly Missing Persons Bureau, he spends his life searching for other lost souls. When Martha takes the job as Charlie’s assistant, they collaborate on cases that are by turns heartbreaking and hilarious – until they stumble across the truths of their respective pasts.

The characters are totally convincing and the pacy plot is at turns funny and poignant; there’s even a trusty hound. Yes, it’s an Aga saga but I found it to be a delightful summer read.

Born in Edinburgh, Isla lives in the East Neuk of Fife with her husband, political cartoonist Bob Dewar.