The Stranger’s Child – Alan Hollinghurst

Hollinghurst is a genius, and I will be surprised if this beautiful and substantial novel does not take this year’s Booker.

The first section of the novel details the romantic, homosexual liaison between a doomed WW1 poet and his university friend at the latter’s fadingly aristocratic country home. We follow the house through generations, as the memories of the individuals involved and their chroniclers becomes further removed from what we know to be the truth. The effect is insightful, lyrical and deeply moving.

The setting and structure is reminiscent of McEwan’s Atonement, whilst the conflicts between reality, memory and biography recall Byatt’s Possession.