For reasons that I'm still not sure about, the author Ben Aitken spent the 2020/1 lockdown in the same house as a woman old enough to be his Nan, her name is Winnie Carter and she is 'a character'.

Winnie doesn't think much of Ben, and Ben isn't quite sure about Winnie. But as they spend far too much time together out of necessity they come to rely on each-other and something similar to a familial/friendly love arises between them. Winnie is such an interesting person that Ben can't help but write about her idiosyncrasies, but without the author's patience and understanding of grief and loss a friendship might never have developed.

I've read a couple of lockdown memoirs - and this is the only one that hasn't bored me to tears. There's no recipes, no moaning about how unfair and oppressive everything is, no tales of death an destruction. It features COVID-19 the way most regular people experienced it - as something to be adapted to rather than the central driving force of existence - and the little politics that is written about is refreshingly free from polemic.

'The Marmalade Diaries' reminded me of 'Diary of a Nobody' by the Grossmith brothers.: it is funny in parts, meaningful in parts and somehow about nothing in particular. There is definitely a 'beginning, middle and an end' but there isn't a big bang, or a long and lengthy treatise about the meaning of life hidden between the pages. There's no reason to read this book, and every reason to read it.

If you are taking a trip on a train or canal boat and would like to read a little and then look out of the window a little, this would be a good book for you.

If you want a meandering, easy-to-read, lighthearted take on the pandemic divided into short sections (something you can read in a queue) then this would be a good book for you.

If you are a history student in 2050 writing an essay entitled 'How the 2020/1 lockdown impacted the daily life of Britian' I highly recommend this as a primary source.

If you are looking for a comprehensive and detailed timeline of the 2020/1 lockdown with a breakdown of how it impacted different parts of society and some good analysis of the crisis then you will need to look elsewhere.

A thoroughly entertaining lighthearted book which I enjoyed a great deal more than Ben's first book of coach holidays with his grandmother. Winnie is 85 and a pure delight, intelligent, eccentric and quirky but also lonely after the death of her husband and rattling around in a large house in South London. Ben takes a room in the house at a very reduced rate in exchange for companionship and help around the house. The story being set during the latter half of 2020 and most of 2021 involves a time when we all endured further lockdowns and restrictions plus Winnie's very real problem of having her eldest son in the care system. A different perspective on lockdown with these unlikely housemates, I shall miss Winnie and Ben and would love an update.

I first read a book by Ben Aitken during lockdown when he travels with his Grandmother which I thoroughly enjoyed.

This is a lovely, gentle book with plenty of humour. For reasons not quite clear, Ben goes to live in Winnie's house. The rent is keen - all he needs to do is help 85 year old Winnie. She's a spiky intelligent woman used to living her own busy life, looking after her large home recently widowed after 50 years of marriage. Marmalade looms large in the story. It's a different perspective on lockdown and living your best life no matter what age you are.