review
In this, his sixth novel since his breakthrough success in 1998, the incredibly gifted John von Düffel, who couples the careers of writer and actor, takes on the themes of role-playing (does one ever exist except as a role player?) and fertility, when the principal character, whose wife has undergone treatment so that they can have a child, does a related service to an old friend and jealous rival, a lawyer, who has recently re-entered his life. Combines the poetry of an imaginative and fluent style with the precision of good stage directions and the intelligence of a witty essayist. A talent waiting to take the stage here?
All recommendations from Autumn 2007