Published: November 2014, Penguin Genre: fiction Themes: family, world war two, childhood, relationships My rating (out of 5): ❤❤❤❤ I was given Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans as one of my Mother's Day gifts, and as I have already finished it, you may guess that I found it a good read. Lissa Evans has created characters that are both believable and unusual and the storyline twists and turns in unexpected ways right up to the last page. The story centres on ten year old Noel, who was orphaned before the start of the war, and, having no other family, is sent to live with his godmother Mattie in Hampstead Heath. Mattie is an academic single woman who holds a doctorate, and Noel is a precocious child who has difficulty making friends of his own age, but the two bond together happily until Mattie's mind begins to unravel when dementia takes hold. Her decline is captured with gentle humour, but also with real sensitivity, and Noel has to cope with doing more and mo...