grandmother. make up this particular coven. located in the somewhat unglamorous and far from magical setting of Coatbridge. The novel is narrated by the spirit of a stillbom Sister to the sextet. She fills in the history of each sister. as well as Maw and GUI Mary ithe grandmotheri in between the main action of the story: the performance of the sisters‘ most powerful and deadly spell. the Six Black Candles.
More abOth family ties and everyday life than the supernatural. this is a believable story full of humanity and humour. iKirsty Knaggsi
SPORT HISTORY MARK FROST The Greatest Game Ever Played iLittle. Brown €17.99) 0..
(/1 - (jRF.\T'I;S'I' (AME EVER I’I.:\TLL)
Mark Frost is an odd fish. What else c0uld he be. having worked closely with Davrd Lynch in the creation of Twrn Peaks as well as writing and producing Hill Street Blues. He's also written a handful of weird novels based around Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. And now to add to his strange CV. he's written a painstakingly detailed acc0unt of the 1913 US Golf Open.
So what of this book then? Well. it deals with the birth of modern golf in America. in particular the aforementioned match. a Davrd versus Goliath tussle bet'r/een unknown yank kid Francis Ouimet and the sport greatest name. Englishman Harry Vardon.
And as far as that goes it's pretty .vell ~.'.’r!'.tel1. but at 470 pages long there's a dastinct feeling of Frost over-egging his puddings. stretching the actIOn to breaking pOInt and generally being too muc'i :n love x/vtl‘ his
SleJeCI to have very much perspective. IDOng Johnstonei
FAMILY DRAMA TIMOTHY
FINDLEY Spadework iFaber
E1 0.991 00.
The late. best-selling Canadian author Timothy Findley started his career treading the boards until he was persuaded to tread off them and step into print. The setting of his final novel is the Shakespeare Festival. Stratford IOITIarlOl where he spent many a happy day.
/ MN I //'r
Spadework fowses on the Kincaids — a 'theatre family" ".‘llIII the father Griff an aspiring actor. the mother Jane a prop designer and their pOOr son Will wrth no (:hOICO but to go along with it — whose world is exposed One long hot Summer in 1998. Sinister happenings rupture the perfect bubble. and the disintegration of this family is plotted by Jane's ever-increasing ‘.'/ine—glugging.
It would be engaging. but sympathy is lost quickly with the characters revelling it their own drama and the self-cor‘iscious Shakespeare references. The peripheral (gliaeri(:t(3rss ziri> ITILI(ZII more interestii'ig: Tom Stoppard could probably do a good job with them. And II‘ a <lisappoiiitineg contrwed finale. all's weil that ends iPuth Hedges!
()PIME DRAMA WALTER MOSLEY
Bad Boy Brawly Brown iSerpent's Tail 571’ i O...
'Motise is dead' are the three words that lure you in. Mouse was Easy Rawlins' friend and partner — not in
crime exactly. but the diminutive one was certainly handy in a tight spot. Equally charismatic and psychotic. he's gone . . . or has he? His shadow follows Rawlins in dream and waking.
Easy — melancholic solver of mysteries and engaging existential hero of what is now seven books first appeared in 1990's Bowl in a Blue Dress. later a movie starring Denzel WashingIOn. That debut was set in post-war LA. while this latest in the series finds the reluctant sleuth in the 60s. backdrop provided by the fledgling Black Panther move'nent.
Mosley has described Easy's Outlook as tragic. ‘He saves your life but that Just means you're going to have to spend 20 or :30 years liv1ng in misery.‘ Which serves only to return us to the puzzle of the disappeared sidekick. Mouse is dead — long live Mouse? Wait and see. lRodger Evansv
ALSO PUBLISHED Martin Amis Koba the Dread IJortathan Cape f‘765.3)9/ Kingsleys boy falls out ‘-.',’III‘ his comrade t'mddres over Stalin.
Tami Hoag Dark Horse (Orion E‘ 70.99; Spine» chilling thriller of resurrection and redeniptior‘ i'l Fonda. Albert Hourani A History of the Aral) Peep/es “Faber mass, Timer analysis of a deeply troubled region and :ts inhabatants. Melanie 8 Catch a fire //-/ead/i/1e f.‘ i' 7.99; Scary Spice tells all. Jonathan Franzen The Corrections (Fourth Estate €7.95) Paperback version of the panoramic ‘.’|Sl()ll of an Arr‘erican ‘an‘ily.
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