Biff Mitchell's Heavy Load is subtitled "A Laundromance", which led me to expect some kind of humorous boy-meets-girl-sitting-in-laundrette story, but there's an additional twist. The narrator is Janie's laundrette itself - or laundromat, as they are called in America and presumably also in Australia, where this book was published. The name of this particular laundromat is "The Washing Green", and it begins its tale with a guided tour of itself, bright with humour and personality, catching the reader's attention immediately, as it describes its interior layout and 130 industrial-grade washing machines:. "the business end of me, le raison de laundroetre"

With such a beginning, you can't help but read on. Incidentally, the laundrette is called The Washing Green, because, unlike such establishments in the UK, it's in a part of the world that has such good weather that people can sit outside while waiting for their washing to dry. It's another variation on the "Grand Hotel" theme - people come, people go, it seems like nothing ever happens but, of course, plenty does. If you can accept the unfashionable idea that ordinary, everyday life is worth observing, you'll enjoy this story and the way it is told.

Yet it's not quite the fairytale it at first appears. Before the end of the first chapter, there's a change in mood, a hint of something dark and threatening, as the Washing Green reveals that, not only is it aware of everything that goes on inside its four walls, but it can also read human minds. In case we should tire of the novelty of the non-human narration, the author avoids revealing his hand all in one go, keeping back little titbits, so that each chapter becomes a mini-cliffhanger. That's what makes this a real page-turner (and I was reading it in electronic format).