Living on
Francis is married to Judith, but the woman he really loves is Anne. The trouble is, Anne is dead
Writing the nation
The "state of the nation" novel is back in fashion, with recent examples from Hanif Kureishi, Sebastian Faulks and Louis de Bernières. But many of these books focus too closely on "authentic" period detail at the expense of convincing characters…
Between the lines
Blurbs and trailers used to tease, not spoil. But these days they ruin things by telling you exactly what you are going to read or watch. We need a campaign for real blurbs
Man in the water
I'd be completely lost without my Jenny. Has Josiah Green the lighthouse-keeper been courting her?
What you want
I have mad thoughts while I'm cleaning. What if I were to be visited by the devil?
The half-baked entrepreneur
Dear Premier Wen, allow me—a servant, philosopher and successful businessman—to offer you the truth about Bangalore, free of charge
The wink
In the old people's home, Jean saw him again. This time, she knew what to do
The genre divide
Despite the latest efforts of John Banville, the gulf between genre and literary fiction remains wide
The third Mr Glasgow
Drunk, spurned and locked out of his flat, Mr MacBleaney consoles himself by remembering former glories
Birdwing
Butterflies offered Arno the passion missing from his marriage. But where, exactly, would his hobby take him?
Cuckoo
Alice was half my age but twice as intelligent as me. She was an enigma threatening to dissolve my marriage.
Infested
She knew it would take something special to win Best Pest. When she saw the dog, she knew she'd found it