Cassie McCullagh

A lot of the action though was off stage.

Things were happening in the adult lives around that boy that we weren't allowed to know about for some reason and we didn't get the details and they were far more interesting stories than what was going on in old mate's bedroom.

What's his name?

Eustace.

Oh, that's right.

Until finally he meets a cool kid who nicknames him Stash and his life gets a bit better after that.

Look, okay, I'm going to come clean.

Kate, I read this book while I was off away on my adventure.

in New Zealand, you know, riding bicycles around country lanes and climbing mountains and in hail and sleet and even snow.

And I think I told you last week that I got helicoptered off a mountaintop because of an avalanche risk, right?

So I had this book with me.

So can you imagine, actually that night, after having been heli-lifted out of this situation, I got into my little bed and I picked out my book.

And this is the paragraph I read.

They drove in at the gates of a wooded estate.

Angus cattle grazed alongside sheep.

There was a little estate church, then a bridge over a river, and then, on a rise in the land, a handsome Georgian house with big white windows and rambling extensions at the rear.

There was a pretty double-sided flight of steps up to a sort of terrace by glazed doors on the first floor.

But they drove around to a more serviceable entrance off the crowded courtyard at the rear.

Kill me now.

Honestly.