Whisper it not in Waterstones, but Philip Hensher’s novels are getting thinner. If the Man Booker-shortlisted The Northern Clemency (2008) weighed in at 700-plus pages, then The Emperor Waltz (2014) was a paltry 624, while this new one tips the scales at a positively anorexic 578. Regular patrons – of whom I am one – will be reassured to discover that all his customary guile and stage-management (together, it has to be said, with all his customary diffuseness) are abundantly on display in this labyrinthine family saga.
22 March 2018, The Tablet
Philip Hensher's lastest novel is a labyrinthine family saga
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