I must confess I bought this book mostly because of the cover. I thought it was adorable and well it is a Penguin book. I have an affinity for Penguin books for some unknown reason.

A cute story set in a Soho neighborhood in London in the 1950's it's centered around an adopted girl named Rosie. Her mom of which the colorful title gets its name drops off Rosie as a baby with her friends and they become her Uncle Bert and Aunt Maggie and her guardians. They own the cafe on the block that is host to all the quirky characters that come in as regulars. When Rosie's mom pops in and it's discovered someone is following her all chaos breaks loose in humorous mayhem.

A quick fun read when wanting something light and easy breezy.

How I acquired this book: The Book Depot, Pittsburg, CA
Shelf life: Three months ( )

It's the early 1950's and seven year-old Rosie lives in Soho with Aunt Maggie and Uncle Bert, who are her parents even though she's dimly aware that they really aren't. Rosie knows that her mother left her behind in their cafe when she was a newborn, and Maggie and Bert kept her for their own. Their family is rounded out by the crooked lawyer, the medium and the hooker who all live next door.

Written as a memoir, this book goes on aimlessly until about fifty pages from the end when suddenly there's a kidnapping and everything is about Rosie's mother, whose situation has been clear pretty early on. I can't say that the writing is bad, because I've seen so much worse, but it isn't good, especially when the cover proclaims this book to be a prize winner for fiction. The author relies heavily on cliches and takes the reader into situations that seem pointless and meandering.
Oddly, this was published by Poisoned Pen Press here in Scottsdale, which I thought worked only in mystery and crime. Though the story includes crime, it's seen through the eyes of a child and couldn't be called a "crime novel" in any way. ( )

Seven year old Rosie lives happily with Uncle Bert and Aunt Maggie and an eccentric extended family of friends who frequent her adopted parents cafe in Soho. Written from a child's perspective and it works. Not great literature, but charming ( )