An allusive and at times terribly poetic novel, this debut by an Australian author innovatively balances events that take place in contemporary Paris, the near past in Japan and some of the murky and untasteful events that occurred during the Algerian war of independence. A thriller at first seemingly devoid of thrills, it manages to keep you tightly entranced as layers and layers of deceipt and identity are peeled away and tie the lives of a retired French policeman, the tentative friendship of a Japanese law professor and a writer he has known since childhood, together with the parade of women who have marked their lives, daughters and wives lost and gained until the spiderweb of connections finally parts to reveal a series of surprising truths. Rather spellbinding.
On the same day that retired police inspector Auguste Jovert receives a letter from a woman claiming to be his daughter, he returns to his Paris apartment to find a stranger waiting for him. That stranger is a Japanese professor called Tadashi Omura. What's brought him to Jovert's doorstep is not clear, but then he begins to tell his story - a story of a fractured friendship, lost lovers, orphaned children, and a body left bleeding in the snow. As Jovert pieces together the puzzle of Omura's life, he can't help but draw parallels with his own; for he too has lead a life that's been extraordinary and dangerous - and based upon a lie. ~ Maxim Jakubowski
A novel of exquisite beauty, which evades categorisation The Times
Author
About Mark Henshaw
Mark Henshaw has lived in France, Germany, Yugoslavia and the USA. He currently lives in Canberra where he was for many years curator at the National Gallery of Australia. He is now writing full-time.
