In The Ocean at the End of the Lane, author Neil Gaiman presents a magical fairy tale that completely captures the reader’s imagination. This is a book you will not want to put down once you have started reading, so it is a good thing that, at just over 200 pages in length, it is an easy day read! The story unfolds as the narrator, a man in his fifties, returns home to England to speak at a funeral. (One of the many things you will ponder is whose funeral is he at….the reader is left to wonder.) Having a few hours to kill after the funeral and wanting to avoid other people, he returns to the location of his childhood home. Once there he proceeds to remember the fantastical happenings with his neighbor, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother when he was seven years old. Gaiman’s exploration of our perceptions both as a youth and then as an adult are spot on, and while this story certainly has fantasy elements to it, it is actually astounding in its ability to explore the depths of human (and maybe non-human…) interactions. This is a definite must-read for lovers of a good story everywhere!