Thomas is a stand-offish person, on his way to Mars, who contacted the wrong person, Gladys. Through her dementia, Thomas meets via satellite phone, her grandchildren, who in their varying ways are trying to deal with their own day-to-day problems and hiding the fact that they are a broken family. Thomas is drawn into the family and their problems, although he is unable to doing anything in space. This in turn, brings memories back for Thomas, with his family and past.

It was a lovely, light read, which made me laugh in places and I love how Thomas finally puts the past behind him to help a family he has never met, to find their way to the light, all from space.

A rollicking, feel-good story about an antisocial man, on his way to start a colony on Mars, and his chance relationship with a family facing hard times back on earth. There’s suspense aplenty as the story rushes towards a major science competition, which could make or break the family. I absolutely loved Gladys, the grandmother who seems not to have all her marbles, but nonetheless emerges as the heroine when things start to really unravel. Politically incorrect, larger than life and totally useless at managing the family finances, she is just wonderful and her telephone conversations with Major Tom are hilarious. I think I was expecting more from this read as the book was marketed as ideal for fans of Ove (A Man Called Ove). That was one of my favourite reads last year, but unfortunately Major Tom was no Ove and I felt I didn’t get to know him well enough. I suspect I would have upped the stars to 4 if my expectations hadn’t been raised so high. All the other characters in the book, however, leapt off the page and I recommend it as a fun, light and enjoyable read for both adults and teens.

The perfect novel for the feels.
A light hearted and often funny story of one mans struggle.

What a delightfully quirky book! Thomas Major has not had a happy life so when an unforeseen event occurs to put him in the position of being on a one-way trip alone to Mars it seems a perfect fit for him. Although a David Bowie fan he could have done without constantly being referred to as Major Tom but seems to be stuck with it. When a communications fault arises he finds himself in touch with a family who have a lot more problems than he has.

I just loved the characters in this book. Put away any thoughts of, "that couldn't possibly happen" & sit back and enjoy the ride. This had me in tears and not always of laughter. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this fabulous five star read!

I do like quirky or odd ball characters so this book was always going to appeal to me. The author covers some serious topics, death, bullying and dementia among others, but there is just the right amount of humour that it never really feels dark. Yes the whole idea of Major Tom being on his way to Mars is a bit bonkers but if you just go with it the book has plenty to offer. I started off identifying with Major Tom but when Gladys put on her sunglasses and reeled of the Blues Brothers quote I realised I had more in common with her. A great cast of characters and a heart warming story, recommended.

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This is such a unique plot idea that it actually took me a while to get used to it-I kept expecting some sort of twist-but no, it is really about an unlikely astronaut on his way to Mars who misdials a number on his phone! Now, most of us have said at sometime that we'd like some time to ourselves but here Thomas Major really is off for some very serious "alone time". But as we flashback to Thomas as a child and his difficult journey to adulthood, we start to realise why this grumpy, middle aged man has made such a big decision.

I'm sure everyone who reviews this book will mention the late, great David Bowie as it's really difficult not to have a certain tune running through your head the whole time of reading it (and afterwards too!!!) But the coincidence of being called Thomas Major provides lots of humour, unfortunately, its mainly all at at his expense! The relationship that develops between him and Gladys, Ellie and James is absolutely wonderful in all its honesty and gentle humour whilst running far deeper than I had expected. As these characters work through their secrets from the past, they unexpectedly help each other look forward to a more positive future. Gladys, especially, was a character I took to my heart straight away and whilst I found Thomas to be a difficult and cantankerous loner with zero "people skills" at the start, my feelings definitely changed once we find out more about him.

This is a wonderfully crafted book, full of quirky characters and humbling situations. It's a book about family and relationships and the realities of love and loss. I felt sadness but I also felt the love of humankind for its own survival, as we tumble through time and space ourselves, reaching out for others to make our journey a happier one. I look forward to reading more books by David Barnett as he has a special gift for making the unthinkable work and work very well indeed!

This book is the story of Thomas Major who, after the total failure of his marriage, manages to inveigle his way onto a one-way, one-man, mission to Mars. Mission control assume he will then set up and wait for the next ship to arrive with more intrepid astronauts but he knows he is just looking for the ultimate seclusion in which to die. All in all he's a miserable beggar. The story swerves, however, into much sweeter territory when he tries to ring his ex-wife and ends up chatting to Gladys, a grandmother from Wigan who is meant to be caring for her motherless grandchildren but is having trouble remembering what day of the week it is. As Thomas moves further away from Earth he becomes more involved with Gladys and her family than he has been with anyone for a long time.

I wasn't sure what I'd make of this book - I knew it was going to be very different from the author's previous work - but I really loved it. The story is a bit quirky (and we've established I love quirky), there is humour and also some genuinely moving moments. The main character is delightfully grumpy (there is a running gag about his name and he spends most of his time telling people that he should be called Thomas, not Tom, and that he's not a major...) and Gladys and her grandchildren, Ellie and James, are wonderful. It is not all laughs, of course. Ellie is having to work three jobs as well as going to school and she daren't ask for help in case the authorities take them into care when they discover that Gladys has dementia and James, like so many children, is keeping quiet about being bullied.

It is a bit of a cliché to say that I laughed and cried while reading this. But it can't be a cliche if its true, can it?

What a lovely heartwarming book, it reminded me of how I felt after reading 'A man called Ove', totally unforgettable.

I found I warmed to every character in the book, my favourite was Tom, but the others were just as enchanting as he was. The book was a joy to read and I can't wait to read more books from David Barnett.

A whopping 5 stars for this one.