The Gray Man

This is a deeply funny book with an affectionately-portrayed narrator, a young boy, Launcelot Kennedy, who dreams of becoming a knight like his namesake. The chapter headings are delicious, entitled ‘The Adventure of the Garden’ and ‘The Murder Among the Sandhills’ and the like; as such the story is reminiscent of the thrilling adventure stories of the period written by the likes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Jules Verne.