Danny Mulberry, Mr Could-Do-Better, spends his 39th birthday in the lock-up. He’s been arrested for writing graffiti on the footpath outside his home in affluent Belsize Park. Actually, it’s his best mate Dom’s house, and Danny lives in the garden shed. And he doesn’t get along with neighbour Ray. He’s taken the photo of Danny giving him a two-fingered salute, which appears in a local paper. But the graffiti was poetic – ‘A cat may look at a king’.
The photo is seen by teenage Wolfie. He realises Danny is the long-estranged brother of her mother, Lou, who is recovering from a nasty accident. Wolfie sets out to find him and soon Wolfie and Lou have moved into the house with Dom, his son, George, and dog, Gentleman. Danny continues hiding out in the garden shed, avoiding his past and working at his new job of writing a column for the paper, answering letters that have flooded in from strangers seeking his guidance after reading his story.
Danny may have good advice for strangers, but can he deal with his own issues and become the big brother, uncle and friend those close to him need him to be?
This is a big-hearted, funny and tender novel that examines the impact of childhood trauma, the power of forgiveness and why we all deserve a second chance.
Reviewed by Melinda Woledge
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Julietta Henderson was brought up in a book-loving family in the rainforests of North Queensland and has been writing professionally for more than 25 years.
Her work has appeared in books and publications in the US, UK and Australia. The Funny Thing About Norman Foreman is her first novel.
She divides her life between her home town of Melbourne, the UK and wherever else she can find winter!
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