A tragic, deeply moving tale narrated by a failed film director who develops a relationship with a baboon. Beautifully written and multi-layered, you’ve just got to read this and all his books. He is a wonderful author.
Comparison: André Brink, J M Coetzee, William Boyd.
| Primary Genre | Romance / Relationship Stories |
| Other Genres: |
A motorcycle messenger goes into a small park in London to paint the words `White Lightning` on the tank of his bike. This is the beginning of an extraordinary novel. It is told over the space of a few months, and in these few months one man`s whole life - his failures, his successes, his longing for peace and fulfilment, his loves and his tragedies - are recounted. These memories include his film Suzi Crispin, Night Nurse, and - the darkest moment - the death of his son, which has haunted him.
He inherits a small amount of money and buys a rundown farm in South Africa, where he dreams of creating an Arcadia. On the farm is a captive baboon, Piet, who becomes startlingly involved in his new life. He also has a love affair with a local woman, and becomes hauntingly involved with an African family of squatters. All the while the narrator contemplates his own life back in England and so the novel is also a sharp commentary on what Englishness means.
This is a novel about the human enterprise. It is surprising, tender, funny and utterly original.
White Lightning features in the following genres: Modern and Contemporary Fiction, Romance / Relationship Stories, Fiction, General Fiction
White Lightning is available in Paperback
White Lightning was written by Justin Cartwright and published by Hodder & Stoughton General Division
White Lightning has 256 pages
£8.99
