A touch of Daniel - Peter Tinniswood

The Brandon family inhabit an absurd world where the men say nothing if they can help it and the women carp endlessly to no avail. They live an exceptionally unexceptional life-to work at the same factory every day, same food on the table every evening, and a drink at the pub every night. Yet it soon becomes clear that in the Brandon household, things are increasingly out of kilter. Bizarre deaths become a regular occurrence; Mr. Brandon goes AWOL; roguish old Uncle Mort moves in; knitting-mad Aunt Lil gets pregnant; geriatric Uncle Stavely decamps from the old folks home to the attic; and poor Carter Brandon, the bearer of everyone's burdens, is having women trouble, with one trying to drag him to the altar and a host of others trying more immediate tactics. Then, of course, there's Daniel.