Recherch - Jim Williams

A beautifully written novel of magical realism, RECHERCHE is set in the South-West of France in a remote rural location. The protagonist is a grimly rational lawyer, a man who bullied his wife with his IQ. He has taken up with a much younger woman, Lucy, and they have decided to 'get away from it all' for a year while he tries, rather half-heartedly, to write. But the conventions of a Hampstead novel are quickly exploded. Their neighbour is Harry, a fabulous character in all senses, who enchants them - especially Lucy - with stories of his extraordinary past. Harry has had many incarnations, starting with Esterhazy, one of the players in the Dreyfus Affair, and coming right up to the present day. His longevity and his richly detailed tales seem to be corroborated by the ever-handy contents of a huge carpetbag. But there is something inexplicable and almost vampiric about Harry's glamour, and events take a dark twist when Lucy disappears, possibly murdered ...