MUST READS
THE PORPOISE by Mark Haddon ( Vintage £8.99, 336 pp )
THE PORPOISE
by Mark Haddon (Vintage £8.99, 336 pp)
Pericles, by Shakespeare, inspires the latest novel by Mark Haddon, author of the award-winning bestseller, The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time.
Pericles is a prince who seeks to marry the beautiful daughter of King Antiochus. Realising that she has been raped by her father, Pericles flees in horror. In the play, the abused girl is unnamed and barely speaks.
Haddon’s novel gives her a name, Angelica, a voice and a story. Angelica is born posthumously: the only survivor of a plane crash in which her pregnant mother dies. Her father, Philippe, a wealthy businessman, treats her as his sexual property, murdering a young man, Darius, who might have rescued her.
This prompts Angelica to imagine an alternative reality, in which Darius embarks on a series of fantastical adventures. Thrilling, dramatic and exquisitely written, The Porpoise combines myth and reality to enthralling effect.
WHEN WE WERE RICH by Tim Lott ( S&S £8.99, 432 pp )
WHEN WE WERE RICH
by Tim Lott (S&S £8.99, 432 pp)
Tim Lott’s award-winning fiction debut, White City Blue, told the story of Frankie Blue, a brash young estate agent from West London whose loyalty to his old mates was strained by his engagement to posh girl Veronica.
When We Were Rich takes up the story, following Frankie and his mates from the millennium to the financial crash of 2008.
New Labour is in power and the economy is booming, but although Frankie and his friends take full advantage of the apparently endless supply of cheap credit, their new-found prosperity doesn’t buy them contentment.
Frankie’s marriage to Veronica is a fractious affair; old friend Nodge has come out as gay, but his boyfriend, Fraser, has a spiteful tongue and unforgiving hard-Left politics. In the distance, the rumble of the coming crash is faintly audible.
Lott’s carefully observed period piece captures the mood of an era that now seems like a lost world.
The Book of Seconds by Mark Mason ( W&N £8.99, 224 pp )
The Book of Seconds
by Mark Mason (W&N £8.99, 224 pp)
‘Winning is everything, second is nowhere’ is a saying with which Mark Mason heartily disagrees.
We may not have heard of Bill Burgess, the second person to swim the Channel, or Margaret Wintringham, the second woman to take her seat in the House of Commons, but their efforts were no less heroic than those of Captain Matthew Webb and Nancy Astor, the first-comers who took all the glory.
Mason’s delightful book celebrates the worthy achievements of second-comers, from former car salesman George Lazenby, the second actor to play James Bond, to the Two Penny Blue — runner-up to the better-known Penny Black as the world’s second official postage stamp.
With its fascinating collection of near-misses from fields including film and TV, politics and sport, this is a heartwarming consolation prize for anyone once pipped at the post in the school egg-and-spoon race.