25th anniversary edition, with a new introduction by the author

One of the most haunting, resonant and clever parables about England you'll ever read Guardian Imagine the quintessential English village filmed by Bunuel and written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez New York Times Book Review Thomson chillingly fuses the real and the unreal with terrifying grace and infinite imagination. It's hard to believe this sophisticated, edgy novel is his first Mail on Sunday When someone writes as well as Thomson does, it makes you wonder why other people bother New Statesman

RUPERT THOMSON is the author of eight highly acclaimed novels, of which Air and Fire and The Insult were shortlisted for the Writer's Guild Fiction Prize and the Guardian Fiction Prize respectively. His most recent novel, Death of a Murderer, was shortlisted for the 2008 Costa Novel Award. His memoir This Party's Got to Stop was published in 2009.