An unflinching novel on the nature of evil from the Booker Prize-winning and Women's Prize-shortlisted author of The Silence of the Girls
'Rich, surprising, breathtaking' The Times
'A tremendous piece of writing, sad and terrifying. It keeps you reading, exhausted and blurry-eyed, until 2am' Independent on Sunday
'Barker probes not only the mysteries of 'evil' but society's horrified and incoherent response to it' Guardian
'Brilliantly crafted. Unflinching yet sensitive, this is a dark story expertly told' Daily Mail
When Tom Seymour, a child psychologist, plunges into a river to save a young man from drowning, he unwittingly reopens a chapter from his past he'd hoped to forget. For Tom already knows Danny Miller. When Danny was ten Tom helped imprison him for the killing of an old woman. Now out of prison with a new identity, Danny has some questions - questions he thinks only Tom can answer.
Reluctantly, Tom is drawn back into Danny's world - a place where the border between good and evil, innocence and guilt is blurred and confused. But when Danny's demands on Tom become extreme, Tom wonders whether he has crossed a line of his own - and in crossing it, can he ever go back?
'The Games of London will stand out as the most memorable gathering of athletes ever seen in the world.'
Lord Desborough, head of the British Olympic Committee
Over one hundred years ago, London hosted its first Olympic Games. It was a world away from the modern-day Olympics - everything was built and organised in less than two years, and at a minute fraction of today's costs. 'Amateur pluck' was still the highest virtue - or so the British Olympic Committee thought.
Not everyone agreed with that sentiment; the strongly nationalistic American team was involved in a series of rows, boycotts and disqualifications, and the Germans were outraged at the defeat of their fencing team. There was even a doping scandal, with accusations that the Canadian favourite for the Marathon had been nobbled with a dose of strychnine. Far from engendering goodwill among nations, the Games caused international uproar (as they often do today).
Rebecca Jenkins' book delightfully evokes the vanished world of the 1908 London Olympics, aided by many charming, nostalgic illustrations. Her book is a fascinating slice of social and sporting history - and provides a thought-provoking contrast to the forthcoming London Olympics of 2012.
Out walking with his wife, Lauren, beside the river Tyne, Tom Seymour instinctively risks his life to save a young man whom they happen to notice just before he jumps into the icy current. Tom's spontaneous act saves the life of someone whose past, as well as whose future, he feels a sense of responsibility towards. Recently released from prison, and living under an assumed name, Danny Miller was tried for murder as a ten-year-old on the basis of Tom's assessment of him as a psychologist and his expert witness testimony. When Danny asks Tom to help him sort out his life-beginning with his past-Tom is drawn into a lonely, soul-searching reinvestigation of the child murderer's case. In her ninth work of fiction, Pat Barker once again proves herself to be not only a brilliant stylist, but a major writer.
