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Article: LITERARY FICTION.(News)
- Article from:
- Daily Mail (London)
- Article date:
- October 30, 2009
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 Solo Syndication Limited. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: BY STEPHANIE CROSS
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver (Faber [pounds sterling]18.99) BARBARA KINGSOLVER'S new novel begins with a nod to her most famous, The Poisonwood Bible. Arguably, though, The Lacuna is even more engrossing. This is the story of author William Shepherd, born in Virginia, 1916. The son of an American father and flirty, feckless Mexican mother, Will's early years are spent in Mexico, reading Agatha Christie among the ferns and patchouli.
Lonely, he becomes a compulsive diarywriter, yet one who carefully absents himself from his own, wryly observant records. Aged 14, Will's solitary existence is punctured by an encounter with the ...