A retired bank manager attends his mother's funeral only to find out he has an aunt he's never known and the woman he thought was his mother may not actually have been his biological mother.

This is a fairly spare, light-hearted novel. Despite learning some pretty earth-shattering news about what he'd always believed, the gravity of it hardly fizzes on him. He is curious about getting to know his aunt a little better and finding out more regarding his mother and his father--the latter whom he hardly knew at all. So, the by-the-rules bank manager, whose only interest in life now is dahlias, decides to do some travelling with his free-spirited, anything-goes aunt.

It's not that I didn't enjoy the novel, but there isn't really a lot to recommend it. There are a few great lines and pieces of wisdom--what Graham Greene novel doesn't have that--but the characters are pretty thin and the story doesn't have much to it. It's okay for people who just want something quick and easy without much thinking, but it isn't in the same league as The Heart of the Matter, The Quiet American, A Burnt-Out Case, The End of the Affair, or The Power and the Glory.