Thanks for the review fantasyfan :-).
It did remind me of one thing though regarding the passage in the book
. . . when set down on the kitchen floor it suddenly shot out a snake-like head . . . Martine had . . . as a child owned a pet tortoise, but this thing was monstrous in size and terrible to behold.
In fact sea turtles, which are the ones that are eaten, cannot retract their heads as tortoises can, their heads and necks are permanently extended. So Martine could never have seen the turtle shoot out a snake like head.
I did wonder about this when I read it as all the sea turtles I had seen had permanently distended necks, I checked and, as far as I can determine, apparently all sea turtles are the same in that respect. Note that I am talking sea turtles here, not fresh water turtles, and many people incorrectly call terrapins turtles but which are quite different (clawed feet instead of flippers, for example). I think that sea turtles can swing their necks side ways to bring the head beside the carapace, but am not sure on that.
My pedantry on that comes from a lifetime associated with the sea
. But to settle myself I suspect an Australian could just as quickly identify a passage confusing salt water crocs with freshwater ones
.