FICTION – International Irish writer Sally Rooney’s fourth novel, Intermezzo , is a departure from earlier books that explore the tumultuous love lives and existential angst of 20-somethings. A quieter, more mature novel, Intermezzo deals with the increasingly fraught relationship between two brothers in the aftermath of their father’s death. They could not be more different – 32-year-old Peter is a confident, successful Dublin lawyer, 22-year-old Ivan a quirky chess genius – but each has an unconventional love life.
A fine, nuanced portrayal of the complexity of sibling relations – and of love, wherever you find it. British writer Alan Hollinghurst won the 2004 Man Booker Prize with his fourth novel, The Line of Beauty . His seventh, Our Evenings , traces the life of Dave Win, half-English, half-Burmese, who in 1961 visits the family that funds his scholarship to school, where their son, Giles, is a bully.
Giles goes on to become a prominent pro-Brexit politician, while Dave pursues a career as an actor. A powerful commentary on modern Britain – with a cracker ending. Precipice , the 16th novel by British writer and former journalist Robert Harris, is gobsmacking, largely because much of it is true.
Yes, British prime minister Herbert Henry Asquith, 61 and married, had an affair with the aristocratic Venetia Stanley, 26. Yes, he wrote her 560 letters (many while in cabinet meetings). And yes, on the eve of World War I, he sent her correspondence that revealed s.
