Simon Baker
Love On The Run
In a way, the narrator of William Wall’s This is the Country is blessed. Before meeting Jacintha, he lives a squalid life of omnivorous drug-use on the fringes of the criminal underclass in an Irish city. His existence is a hellish fugue, with months meandering into each other, bringing nothing but self-loathing and oblivion. Jacintha finally gives him a purpose; he cleans up, gets a trade, and falls for the comforting allure of domesticity.
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
'Too many historians sneer at our forbears; scolding them if they follow the customs of their own day ... tut-tutting if the poor things are detected having a little fun.'
From the archive, Mary Clive on medieval travellers.
http://ow.ly/yk8a50yrjSG
'Reading Taylor’s book has also made me join a book club. I did not like the January book; I did enjoy drinking gin while saying why.'
@clamorousvoice explores the history of women readers.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/she-readers
'When the language starts functioning as a character in fiction, when it is there drawing attention to itself ... It’s not anything that anybody really takes seriously.'
Our interview with Anthony Burgess from 1983.
http://ow.ly/5u0y50yrjoO