About the book

Author: Bradley, Alan C., 1938-

Title: The sweetness at the bottom of the pie.

Publication: New York : Bantam, 2009. ISBN 9780553840766.

DAISY audio format narrated by Annabel Bates. CELA library call number DA38056. 292 pages in the paper edition; 11 hrs., 9 mins. as a recorded book.

About the story

If you have never read the Flavia de Luce (that’s Flavia with an eh) books, you are in for a wildly hilarious treat. Canadian author Alan Bradley has introduced us to one of the great comic characters of literature, I do believe!

The first book, The sweetness at the bottom of the pie, introduces our quirky little hero and her eccentric family, and the house that is, in many ways, a main character in the series. Flavia comes across her first murder, you see, at the ripe old age of eleven.

A rogue chemistry genius, Flavia spends her days plotting revenge on her dastardly sisters, whizzing around on Gladys, her bicycle, and figuring out the solution to the dead person in the garden. She is so clever, so wildly impressed with her cunning, and so devoid of common social skills that you will laugh out loud at the situations into which she gets herself. Flavia is one of the great delights of my reading life.

Once you have met her, you will be utterly unable to resist the other Flavia books. Here is the reading order, but do try to pace yourself!

  • The sweetness at the bottom of the pie (2009)
  • The weed that strings the hangman’s bag (2010)
  • A red herring without mustard (2011)
  • I am half-sick of shadows (2011)
  • Speaking from among the bones (2013)
  • The dead in their vaulted arches (2014)
  • As chimney sweepers come to dust (2015)
  • Thrice the brindled cat hath mew’d (2016)
  • The grave’s a fine and private place (2018), a forthcoming book

Unfortunately, the CELA library only has the first two (DA38056 and DA50079), but your local public library may have them, in commercial CD audiobook format. The downside is that your DAISY CD reader calls it “other audio” and only provides the track number, but you can still bookmark your place. If you need to inter-library loan them, Toronto Public Library has them all.

Your public library may also have them as an eAudiobook (downloadable to a wifi-connected device like a phone, but which has to run specific software, if you can do that. I can’t use them on either of my DAISY players.).

Of course, you can always go to Bookshare, since they have everything!

I have been savouring the books in this series, so I have only just finished As chimney sweepers come to dust, set in Miss Bodycote’s Female Academy (the boarding school her mother, Harriet, attended), right here in Toronto! The narrator for that one, Jayne Entwistle, perfectly captures the delighted glee at her own cleverness that is one of Flavia’s most endearing traits. Flavia is now twelve, and – heart-broken at being banished from her beloved Buckshaw – is travelling in the company of two humourless directors of the Academy.

Sadly, lovers of realistic fiction may not appreciate Flavia’s singular charm, but if you are looking for a bright, dynamic female character of irrepressible hilarity, Flavia is – as they say – yer man!

SO highly recommended! Especially if you are glum.