The Grope family are an old traditional family from Northumberland, originally descended from a Viking who wasn’t into pillaging and would rather settle down and hide in the remote countryside.

The dominant females keep the family and the name and every eldest daughter becomes the Matriarch after the death of the previous. Any males being born are ‘removed’ and any husbands required are ‘kidnapped’ and then also ‘removed’ if they become unacceptable.

We also meet Horace and Vera Wiley (a very unhappy couple) and their son Esmond, who weave their way into the plot with Vera's brother Albert (the local conman) and his wife Belinda (one of the Grope girls).

This novel seems more like the start of a series rather than a stand-alone book. There’s lots of promise in parts of the book but they don’t pan out into the funny situations Sharpe's earlier novels delivered.

Maybe today’s society has killed off Sharpe's humour but not since Wilt on High has he produced a book that made me laugh out loud.

Philip Smith