Mothers and their daughters. Daughters and their mothers. Young Kitty, gauche and charming, has a mother called Marina, herself a talented artist, and their idyllic home is the sprawling country house of loving grandparents Bestepapa and Bestemama that's shared by a host of eccentric and flamboyant relatives. Marina is both utterly beguiling and terrifyingly embarrassing, and more often than not Kitty can only gaze on her antics with awe and toe-curling trepidation. By far the most beautiful mother of anyone Kitty knows, Marina gaily introduces her hapless offspring to a host of vibrant characters such as Lakshmi (a lumpen emissary from The Guru who visits to 'convert' everyone) or the lovable but useless drunk Jenkins (a much better prospect however, Kitty feels, than most of Marina's other conquests), as well as one extraordinary situation after another as they trip around the world as others might go to the supermarket. But as Kitty becomes a teenager it becomes more and more clear that perhaps Marina isn't the most exemplary of parents, and that sometimes a girl might have to find it somewhere in her to be brave enough to put herself first. Powerfully evocative of years gone by - Angel Delight, anyone? - and interspersed with Kitty all grown up,Joining the Grown-upsis by turns hilarious, heartbreaking and scandalous, as Sophie Dahl writes with a keen eye, a warm heart and wonderful lyricism about a coming-of-age that's quite unlike any other.