Thubron’s laconic title evokes literal passages, the passage of time, the transition from life to death

Colin Thubron fuses his metiers of travel and fiction writing beautifully in this novella about an actress facing mortality, memory loss and the fading of allure. The dramatic opening sees 47-year old Kathleen undergoing an operation to remove a tumour on her brain while still conscious. To distract her as the top of her head is opened up, and also to assist the neuro surgeon in pinpointing areas of dead tissue, a psychologist gently probes her with questions. Kathleen’s answers – that her husband Robert, present at the operation, is a neurologist, that they are childless and are shortly to go on holiday to Egypt with Robert’s younger brother Alan – function cleverly as exposition. The operation is only a partial success and the door to the underworld stands ajar.

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