Bernardine Bishop died last year from a long illness, so it’s unsurprising that this posthumous novel is concerned with the themes of death and fate. She begins on the subject – a widow, Betty Winterborne, reflects on the first anniversary of her son’s unforeseen death – and concludes with it, with Betty coming to terms with the circumstances of his death 19 years later. The novel is not unduly morose; it is more broadly concerned with the morality and exigencies of deceit. Interlocking lives of a group of Londoners are portrayed: Betty’s successful yet broody daughter Julia; a Catholic priest, Roger Tree, who has recently confessedto child-abuse charges; and his siblings Hereward, a successful novelist, and Romola, a failed one.Bishop tackles grave subjects