Sara Wheeler

Once So Great

Backwards Out Of The Big World

HarperCollins 261pp £18 order from our bookshop

Hyland’s journey begins and ends in ‘crumbly old layer-cake Lisbon’, and in between he follows the Tagus, lingering over whatever real or metaphorical tributary takes his fancy. When he crosses the river, to Cacilhas, it is a literal rite of passage.

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