Tim Parks

The gift of tongues, prophecy exorcism. . . what might such concepts mean in a complacent backwater of North London? For Richard Bowen, adolescence becomes a nightmare when his parents join the charismatic movement and find a devil in his brother.Winner of the Somerset Maugham and Betty Trask Awards.

In Adultery and Other Diversions, Tim Parks seeks, as he puts it, to “dramatize the intimate relation between reflections that are timeless and the ongoing story of our lives.” He succeeds magnificently. Whether his focus is adultery, marriage, his relationship with his father, ghosts, his children, Italian soccer …