Michael Arditti has carved out a unique place for himself in current British fiction. He writes interesting and non-didactic novels about religion. Not only does he invent memorable characters and situations – a love story set in Lourdes, for example, or an investigation into the mysterious disappearance of a priest in the Philippines, which uncovers much of that country’s murky history – he gets us to consider something that would otherwise be at the margins of most readers’ consciousnesses, namely the impact religion has on life. His latest book represents something of a holiday from usual themes and is also less stylistically adventurous. Set in a down-at-heel seaside resort, which could be Brighton or Hastings, it is essentially a story of family life, though t