A seventeen-year-old is sent to the country to live with his much-older half-brother and falls into an unexpected affair in this novel by Man Booker Prizeβwinning author David Storey
The narrator of Storeyβs eleventh novel is an angst-ridden seventeen-year-old who shares intimate details of his life in the form of memos written to himself. Born in Beverly Hills, California, Richard βRickβ Audlin now lives with his film producer half-brother, Gerryβwho is thirty-five years his seniorβin a rambling old Victorian house in Hampstead. Gerryβs second wife, Martha, is a former film star who has been committed to a mental institution. When Gerry has to go abroad on business, he trundles Rick off to the home of his long-estranged sibling, James (Rickβs other half-brother), who lives on the outskirts of a remote village and is the author of seven unpublished crime novels. It is Jamesβs wife, Clare, who meets Rick at the station. Flirty and attractive, she soon draws Rick into an illicit liaison. But Rick senses that something else is going onβsomething that will eventually lead him to a shattering secret in his familyΒ .Β .Β . and the thin ice theyβre all skating on.