Book description
The new novel from Patrick Gale, author of Richard &
Judy-bestseller 'Notes from an Exhibition', returning readers to his
beloved Cornish coastline.
"Do you need me to pray for you now for a specific reason?”
“I'm going to die.”
“We're all going to die. Does dying frighten you?”
“I mean I'm going to kill myself.”
When 20-year-old Lenny Barnes, paralysed in a rugby accident, commits
suicide in the presence of Barnaby Johnson, the much-loved priest of a
West Cornwall parish, the tragedy's reverberations open up the
fault-lines between Barnaby and his nearest and dearest. The personal
stories of his wife, children and lover illuminate Barnaby's ostensibly
happy life, and the gulfs of unspoken sadness that separate them all.
Across this web of relations scuttles Barnaby's repellent nemesis - a
man as wicked as his prey is virtuous.
Returning us to the rugged Cornish landscape of Notes from an
Exhibition, Patrick Gale lays bare the lives and the thoughts of a whole
community and asks us: what does it mean to be good? 'Guaranteed to
give the reader a warm glow' Independent
'Warm and humane, this novel is beautifully written' The Times
'This being Gale there's a compelling tale to be told … a convincing,
moving account of man's struggle with faith, marriage and morality'
Sunday Times
'At his best, Gale is an effortlessly elastic storyteller, a writer
with heart, soul, and a dark and naughty wit, one whose company you
relish and trust. In fact you feel you would believe anything he told
you - and if I have a small complaint, it's that he sometimes doesn't
quite seem to realise it, doesn't trust in his own genuine power. Now
and then he writes a little too hard, too carefully or too deliberately.
Relax, you want to tell him. Trust yourself, because we do. Do less,
because what you do is already so effective. But it's a minor quibble in
a novel which managed to upset and uplift me in equal measure, and which
kept me company - and kept me guessing - right through to its slightly
bitter and heartfelt end' Julie Myerson, Observer
'What Gale does so well is to delineate the unpremeditated spider-web
consequences of actions, most particularly those where the intentions
are apparently perfectly "good". The unfolding nightmare for
all the family of the consequences of adopting are exquisitely and
painfully documented… The final chapter left me with a lump in my
throat' Salley Vickers, Guardian
'Late at night on the day a new Patrick Gale arrives I am always to be
found crouching on the icy bathroom floor, banished from the bedroom for
keeping my husband awake, feverishly turning the pages. The pins and
needles are terrible, but worth it.' Spectator Patrick Gale was born
on the Isle of Wight in 1962. He spent his infancy at Wandsworth Prison,
which his father governed, then grew up in Winchester. He now lives on a
farm near Land's End. His most recent novels are The Whole Day Through
and the Richard & Judy bestseller Notes from an Exhibition.
