The Spell. Alan Hollinghurst.

A marvellous read – engaging on all levels – plot and emotional involvement. I loved the way he so skilfully interweaves the lives of the interlocking protagonists. It is cinematically dance-like; different characters appearing and disappearing in each other’s lives as we see the effects that they have on each other.

The style is sparely elegant but not self-consciously mannered. As well as the perceptive depictions of emotions and relationships, there are also; marvellously vivid descriptive passage, particularly of nature which really help to ground the book and give a vivid sense of place.

As he has demonstrated in his other works, Hollinghurst is a master evoker of parties and social meetings with two chapters in this novel, 10 and 15y, being particularly fine examples of this – although not quite up to the level of the classic description of the party with Margaret Thatcher in The Line of Beauty!

I particularly enjoyed the character of Alex – something of an old soul and, intriguingly, Danny who, in himself , is not a particularly intrinsically interesting character but rather he is there to show the effect that he has on the other characters and how that affects their own lives and relationships.

The ending was eminently, dramatically and emotionally, satisfying – including what happened to; Danny – and at the end one had the sense of these lives going on. Masterly.