Sunday 6 April 2008

FUGUE FOR A DARKENING ISLAND

NEL paperback, September 1973. Cover artist uncredited.

FUGUE - a glimpse into the future of Britain. At a time when the country is caught by civil conflict between a right-wing government and the liberal element, a third group arrives - refugee Africans from a continent devastated by nuclear attack. The country is ripe for a three-way civil war. Total breakdown in communications quickly follows, and a nightmare situation grips the community. 
Alan Whitman, the central character of this frightening story, represents the view of the man on the street. How will he cope with this situation when he has opted out all his life, from political, personal and moral decisions? 
Christopher Priest's second novel consolidates his place among the most brilliant and imaginative of the younger writers of today, already established by his earlier work 'Indoctrinaire'."

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