SOMETIMES you come across a novel which haunts you long after you have reached the final page, firmly lodged in your memory.

And memory is a key factor in this splendid offering by the renowned British author Sebastian Faulks.

The narrator is successful psychiatrist Dr Robert Hendricks who is an author and a veteran of the Anzio landings in the Second World War.

He is haunted by memories of his past experiences and Hendricks leads the reader on a moving journey through his life.

A Possible Life by Sebastian Faulks (Vintage)

by Patrick O'Connor

FIRST things first. This work, by one of Britain's leading writers Sebastian Faulks, is described on the book cover as a novel.

It isn't, it comprises five novellas – longer than a short story but shorter than a novel – and there is no obvious link between the five.