Are We Nearly There Yet by Ben Hatch

Ben Hatch has written a wonderful memoir that is by turns both hilarious and deeply moving. His family’s eight thousand mile journey around the UK in a Vauxhall Astra carrying out research for a family-friendly guidebook provides many opportunities for humour. But this is much more than a series of funny set pieces; the quality of the writing draws you into Hatch’s life, and provides an insight into this period of re-evaluation.

By the end of the book I had developed a real affection for Ben’s wife Dinah, which I am convinced is largely down to Ben’s skill as a writer, carefully and gently manipulating your emotions throughout the story. The overall tone gave me a vivid recollection of Gerald Durrell’s “My Family and Other Animals” which I haven’t read for over forty years.

However it is during the book’s darker side, dealing with the terminal illness of Ben’s father Sir David Hatch that Ben’s true core shines through without any hint of sentimentality. Hatch writes with such engagement and self-deprecating humility that I was moved to tears.

However the majority of the book has a rich seam of laughter running though it, particularly the observational humour surrounding Phoebe and Charlie which will strike a chord with all parents. I hope that Ben will now return to his work as a novelist as I believe that he has a great comic novel in him. I would wholeheartedly recommend this wonderful book.