Sometimes things just happen. Little things that appear incidental but go on to have life changing consequences; good and bad. The Fruit Bowl draws on this theme. Break-time at St. Edmunds School in the 1970's; two boys lives are about to be changed forever. Tom Harper is a twelve year old being picked on by a bully. An everyday scenario played out at every break-time. Paddy Porter is an older boy and sensing the mismatch, he intervenes and settles the dispute. Just a compulsion to act and in doing so, Tom and Paddy's futures become fused. An innocuous incident between two strangers but one that will reconnect them some thirty years later and set in motion a chain of events that completes and saves each of their lives. The Fruit Bowl is a life affirming story. A rare novel that evokes tears of laughter and sadness. A story that celebrates the human spirit and values love and kinship above all else. Holland has made his living observing human nature. He makes people laugh by reflecting people's lives in his own and he draws on this experience to tell this heart rending story. It has evolved over considerable time. Based on a series of real events in his own life, it is not a story that could be written quickly. A beautiful tale of love and loss. Holland shines a brilliant light on human nature and what it is that sustains us. Our vulnerability and our need for other people and their love to complete as human beings.