Susan Johnson is an Australian novelist, based in London and often mistaken for an American author of erotic romance books who shares the same name. Here the comparisons end because our Susan Ruth Johnson writes quality stories about social and personal subjects. Her latest novel, Life in Seven Mistakes is something of a deviation from her earlier work in that it is a domestic black comedy about familial duty. But like all her work it is subtle, immensely readable, engrossing, touching and extraordinarily evocative.

Elizabeth Barton is on her 10-day Christmas pilgrimage from Melbourne to her parents’ Gold Coast apartment. She thinks that her worst nightmare would be to be trapped forever in a room with her family. Her parents, Bob and Nance, are celebrating their fiftieth wedding anniversary and the entire Barton clan is there for the festive season. But none of them can resist being pulled into the familiar cycle of anger and blame. If only Bob were a reasonable man and if only Nance weren’t a cold control freak, then things would be different. But before the Christmas pudding is served, one of them is in hospital fighting for their life and the Bartons only have one another for support.

Most readers will find the tale’s dysfunctional family Christmas both agonisingly recognisable and terribly funny. The scenes are well-drawn and the characters’ persistent squabbling and individual dramas keep the reader hooked until the almost obvious but still acutely affecting final chapter. Unpretentious, precise and peppered with satire, Life in Seven Mistakes is both pleasurable and comical, and arguably Susan Johnson’s best novel to date. Random House RRP $32.95