#NowRereading The Course of the Heart by #MJohnHarrison (in the new Serpent’s Tail edition published last week).
In the intensity and sapping misdirection of the current heatwave in the north of France, it seems as good a time as any to start to re-read one of my favourites of Mike’s novels. For all I know (and may soon discover) it may be the most auspicious of conditions in which to experience the book’s unsettling story.
I finished this book again today in the midst of intense heat here in France. I'd forgotten that many of the contemporary scenes take place in the winter months, or under rain-filled skies; there was a pleasing balancing-out.
It's a beautiful and devastating novel, the writing as good as any, and far, far better than most. I think this is my 4th reading and the story almost resolves itself—but I never want it to, that "almostness" one of its true virtues.
Brian Lavelle has moved