Gladys Reunited: A Personal American Journey

This is a great book. Travel with humour and insight, it satisfies at every level.

I much prefer Sandy Toksvig's non-fiction writing to her novels. Here she provides a twist to the (too easy) choice of a childhood memoir by focusing on a play put on by her high school drama class and links it with the current vogue for quest-based books by attempting to relocate her co-stars in a kind of "friends reunited " adventure. The structure of the book - a series of vignettes as she meets various chums of long ago - plays to Toksvig's strengths as she deftly outlines characters and finds the humor in some absurd social situations. She clearly embarked on something of a spitiual journey in trying to reunite the Gladys Society and it is a testament to her skill as a writer that she is able to take her readers along with her.