I read this book an awfull long time ago and remember enjoying it, but get confused with the Spencer Tracey movie of the same name. Try and get the movie, then read the book, it helps me a lot.
Bit stoggy not unlike new bread, but you get into it and it races along - for me it pays to see the old English(1930-ish) which really establishes a reference point and lets you imagine the time that it was set in. Robert Donat plays the hero and makes a good fist of the part, but for those of you reading it from another era the film would really help.