This was brilliant. I had a weird and precise memory of having read the first chapter (only) before; maybe one of the publisher's bits of marketing where they dump the first chapter of book two at the end of book one ('Every Human Heart', I am thinking, a Boyd book I read and enjoyed two or three years ago)?
This is two stories in parallel, about a spy in World War 2 and her daughter, a single Mum living in Oxford in the 1976 heatwave.
Brilliantly written and crafted; I am definitely becoming a William Boyd fan. Much clearer than 'Waiting for Sunrise' (no.50) although I did get a bit lost in the Mexican desert bit, but perhaps that is the Mexican desert for you.
Read most of the book of Boyd short stories between no.51 & no.52, but they were crap - P & ! both dislike short stories; she reads them as if a novel and wonders why one chapter doesn't follow on from the previous one. I don't, but still dislike short stories. No narrative flow to get stuck into.
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