After Battersea Park: Amazon.ca: Jonathan Bennett: Books

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Jonathan Bennett's first novel, After Battersea Park, covers a lot of ground in fewer than 200 pages. While most of the action takes place in Sydney, Australia, and Toronto, this whirlwind tour of long-separated twins also lands in Hawaii, London, Scotland, Madrid, and Mallorca. The twins--Curt, an Australian jazz musician, and William, a Canadian visual artist--were driven in different directions at the age of four when their drug-addict father separated from their mother. She soon found she could not feed the children and had to give them up. At age 27, they learn of each other's existence and begin a journey that draws them together from different ends of the world.

Bennett has a deft, suggestive touch: "Curt's aunt, Jilly, found her slumped in her chair. Not late for tennis but dead." He also has a flair for writing subtle erotic scenes, as in this picnic enjoyed by William and his much older lover: "Spring slid into summer that quiet afternoon, in full view of the city." The high points of After Battersea Park are its well-wrought scenes sparkling with wry humour and wit. Bennett has the ability to place the reader right on the spot: in a crowd of Mallorcans trying to extract a precious cigarette lighter from a storm-water drain (which ends with Curt lighting a cigarette to a fine round of applause); or hiding in a bedroom closet with William while a couple whose house he has secretly entered make love not 10 feet away. A neatly constructed plot, engaging three-dimensional characters, and a touch of devil-may-care impudence make this novel a delight. --Mark Frutkin

From Booklist

Curt, a jazz musician, was raised in Australia, and William, a visual artist, was reared in Canada. They are identical twins, separated at the age of four, unaware of each other's existence and of the fact that they have been adopted. Both struggle in their intimate relationships, finding it difficult to overcome the fear of abandonment and make a commitment to a lover. In short, alternating chapters written in dreamlike prose, Bennett fills in the great mystery at the center of their lives. The suicide of Curt's adoptive mother is the key that unlocks the secret of their parentage. Called to a reunion in Hawaii, they finally meet their biological parents and learn of the tragic circumstances behind their separation. In remarkably concise fashion, Bennett's story encompasses two decades and three continents while limning themes of family and cultural identity. It is the pull of his prose, more than the arc of his plot, which will lure readers into this offbeat, low-key, surprisingly resonant novel. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Margaret's flat was one of three on the ground floor of an old sandstone mansion that looked out across Sydney harbour. Read the first page

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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover

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After Battersea Park [Paperback]

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