Five Windows — D.E. Stevenson

David Kirke has five windows in his life. We follow him as he makes his way in the world from his sheltered childhood in the Scottish Border hills to a tall grey house in Edinburgh, a dingy London boarding house and his own attic flat high above a Covent Garden bookshop. We watch over his family, friends and tentative romances, and see how his open friendliness and innate decency prevail through testing times. And then an elderly aunt bequeaths her derelict cottage to him and through this fifth window he finds his place in the world. Originally published in 1953, this is one of D. E. Stevenson's best-loved books, but also one of the hardest to find.