Review
'Suffused with desire and regret, this beautiful, understated novel is a moving meditation on change and compromise' -- Guardian on GHOST PORTRAIT 'Anything by Gregory Norminton is a pleasure to read - the pages skip by in his light, cadenced style' -- Time Out on GHOST PORTRAIT 'Sardonic, carnal, intellectual, violent, urbane, ARTS AND WONDERS delves straight back to the origins of the novel...classic picaresque' -- Guardian on ARTS AND WONDERS 'Clever and energetic and sly and funny and full of inventiveness. I wish there was more fiction like this being published in Britain.' -- Kate Atkinson on SHIP OF FOOLS 'A remarkable achievement' -- Times Literary Supplement on SHIP OF FOOLS 'impeccably written... It is rare enough to find a successful conflation of the personal and the political but to articulate immense issues such as environmental depredation, the culture of narrow self-interest and the mendacity of power within a story that stays anchored to its plot and characters without falling into tub-thumping is astonishing. Norminton's measured, elegant prose makes beauty and menace sing in perfect harmony. The book is worth reading for his writing on teh English countryside alone, while his scaling of the treacherous cliffs of the human heart will take your breath away." -- Seven, Telegraph, Neel Mukherjee 20080209
Product Description
In the early 1990s, at an old-fashioned boarding school, two boys form an intense friendship that will shape the course of their lives. Bruno Jackson, the shy and lonely son of British expats, is infatuated by the glamorous but troubled Anthony Blunden. Taken under the wing of an idealistic English teacher, the boys are encouraged to explore the more serious things of life beyond college. But in the hothouse of the school, a slight from their mentor seems of earth shattering-importance, with fateful consequences. Years later, with the memories of that time almost buried, Bruno leads a blameless, uneventful life. The sudden reappearance of Anthony forces him to revisit the dark corners of his past and to decide how far hes prepared to go to assuage his conscience. From the acclaimed writer of GHOST PORTRAIT and THE SHIP OF FOOLS, this is a gripping tale of vengeance, morality and the complex paths that can lead to redemption.
