With Family Fan Club (Collins Children’s Books pound;9.99), Jean Ure has created a warm and witty contemporary take on Louisa M Alcott’s classic Little Women. Four mixed-race sisters face spending Christmas with their parents separated and everyone too poor t buy presents. Although they are very different in character, the girls have a common aim - to unite their family.
This is a hugely entertaining short novel: balanced, observant and funny and written with Ure’s usual fluency and insight.
