The discussion did become a general one about bullying, really, though there were a couple of interesting contributions about Marie and Nicola's attitude to her.

I agree, I love her style of writing. The list of the hounds is gorgeous - and that long passage when Nicola follows the three white hounds. And sometimes just single sentences and phrases, things like 'and Val was scuttling still' at the end of the cricket match have stuck in my mind since I first read them. Some of her sentences make me happy in the same way that some of Jane Austen's do, for their rhythm and pace and placing. (I was going to go and get the books and start picking favourite passages when I wrote this post but sanity prevailed.)