Dream House

I usually enjoy Jan Mark's books but found this a bit disappointing. The plot seemed a bit over-stretched and the humour a bit flat, despite extravagant, contrary claims on the cover. Hannah's involvement with West Stenning Manor, a centre for arty short courses, is based on her dreamy love of the building, not its shifting human population. Her friend Dina on the other hand is besotted and bedazzled by its celebrity tutors. The dream tarnishes when she meets TV star Martin Carter and his brat daughter, Julia. Their short involvement and the squabbles between the three girls shows Dina how wrong she is to think that because you are famous you aren't prone to the usual, ordinary human failings.