Homemaking for the Down-at-heart

Margot is a late-night talk radio host - the perfect job for an outspoken insomniac.

Her Kalk Bay home is crowded with wonderfully evocative characters such as her teenage daughter, Pia, her hopelessly romantic yet mostly absent lover Curtis, and the family hanger-on, Mr Morland, a professional psychic.

Finally there's her mother, Zoe, once the acclaimed author of a quirky self-help volume with the same title, but now increasingly senile.

In this deeply moving new novel by the award-winning poet and novelist, Finuala Dowling, the author examines the fleeting and often so complicated moments of happiness in any household.

A must-have for all bookshelves.