A multi-generational family saga filled with huge dollop of magic realism and way too much drama to fit in one sentence. 

I bought this book from a second hand book store, and sold it back to them after I finished reading it.  A year or two later, without realising that I had already read it, I bought it again.  I decided to keep it so that I didn't make that mistake again and it has proved to be a good read on more than one ocassion.

Nothing says house of spirits like a graveyard.  This particular cemetry is in a small town called Akaroa just outside Christchurch.