Afterlife by Sean O'Brien (Picador)
by Patrick O'Connor
THE organisers of a poetry festival in the fictious town of Divott near the Welsh border want to reintern the body of celebrated poet Jane Jarmain, a move that forces her one-time friend Martin Stone to look back on events in a sultry summer in the 70s.
Stone was obsessed by poet Thomas Exton and back in the 70s felt that his own troubled, drug-fuelled lifestyle shared parallels with the 17th century scribe.
A Revolution Of The Sun by Tim Pears (Windmill)
by Patrick O'Connor
SOMETIMES multi-strand novels can become too complex, too difficult to follow, to the extent that the reader is constantly flicking back through the pages to remember who's who.
A Revolution Of The Sun examines a full year in forensic detail, starting on January 1, 1997, through the eyes of a host of unconnected people – such as a pregnant woman, an amnesiac, a Conservative MP, a long distance lorry driver, a father and his young son who suffers from cerebral palsy and most intriguing of all, a female cat burglar.
The Man Who Forget His Wife by John O'Farrell (Doubleday)
by Patrick O'Connor
VAUGHAN'S 'bizarre reawakening' occurs on a London underground station.
He has lost his memory and ends up in hospital when he lingers for several days before somebody (his best friend Gary) turns up to identify him.
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (Vintage Books)
by Patrick O'Connor
THE central character is this book is Tony Webster, who has retired and has had “a career and a single marriage, a calm divorce.”
But the story will appeal to readers of all ages for Tony spends much of his time looking back to his youth when he and his two best friends meet the enigmatic Adrian Finn at school.
An Equal Music by Vikram Seth (Phoenix)
WORDS such as octave, partita and arpeggio may leave you scratching your head in bewilderment if you are not trained in classical music but that shouldn't stop you enjoying this romantic tale.
Sacred & Profane by Marcelle Bernstein (Bantam Books)
by Patrick O'Connor
IN the stifling heat of a Latin American country, a nun collapses and cries out words no-one can understand.
Meanwhile thousands of miles away in a London prison, another woman awakes panic-stricken in her cell.