Sarah A Smith
Cult Fiction
The Strange Case of the Composer and his Judge
By Patricia Duncker
Bloomsbury 262pp £11.99 order from our bookshop
Patricia Duncker is a novelist of ideas. Her work has encompassed French postmodernism, gender politics, postcolonialism and cultural diversity. Her fifth novel, The Strange Case of the Composer and his Judge, takes on monotheist sects, astronomy, opera and the battle between rationalism and mysticism. Like much of her previous fiction, it does so within the context of a thriller.
Duncker's inspiration here is what she calls ‘warped Christianity’ and the phenomenon of mass suicide, as well as the more recent horror of the suicide bomber. What fascinates her is the strength of a believer's convictions. This being Duncker, it is not just the members of the blandly
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
George Mackay Brown's work 'not only captures the totality of Orcadian life but also draws from that life a humane vision of creaturely dwelling, of man’s symbiotic relationship with the land and its history'.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/et-in-orcadia-ego
'Rather than concerning themselves with the machinations of great men', antiquaries 'sought to establish how people had lived, what they had worn, what stories they’d told and what games they’d played'.
http://ow.ly/abL350FcfW9
Stuck for a Father's Day gift?
We'll send you a free hardback copy of @BurlM11's 'Day of the Assassins when you subscribe OR give a gift subscription to Literary Review.
Enter the code FATHER21 at checkout.
https://www.mymagazinesub.co.uk/literary-review/promo/father21/