BE careful what you wish for. Early retirement at 55 from the bank was not going down too well for Mitzi.

She was most definitely not too old and not ready to be put out to grass just yet. She still danced around the kitchen when the Rolling Stones were played on the radio for goodness sake.

While trying to get some life into her fellow "wrinklies" in the Berkshire village of Hazy Hassocks, Mitzi came across a recipe book compiled by her great grandmother.

Having had trouble boiling water in the past, Mitzi tried some of these recipes with names like "Wishes Come True Pie" and "Powers of Persuasion Pudding".

While everyone liked the food, strange things began to happen when it was eaten. Nice things began to happen around Mitzi and her family and friends.

Well...sort of nice...

Of course, some of the very old recipes had very old ingredients, impossible to get in this day and age so Mitzi often had to improvise.

From the Pools winner who thinks she is now lady of the manor, to the "cool" new bank manager; from the spinster sister neighbours to the local health food shop owner who, ahem, "smokes" rather too much of his own products, Christina Jones' characters are not only mildly insane but also worryingly believable!

She has been called the working class Jilly Cooper but I prefer to think of her as the female Tom Sharpe.

This book is, quite simply, very funny indeed.

Hubble Bubble by Christina Jones (Piatkus £6.99 softback)