Mark Haddon, author of the best-selling novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, released a new book this September, which has already received an enthusiastic review from the New York Times.
“A Spot of Bother†concerns a retiree named George Hall. He’s a decent, sympathetic figure who used to hold a managerial post at a company that manufactured playground equipment.
At the outset of the book, George discovers a lesion on his hip. His doctor diagnoses it as eczema. George, disbelieving, is convinced he has fatal cancer. Meanwhile, there are other rumblings of trouble. George learns that his wife, Jean, is carrying on an affair with one of his former work colleagues. George and Jean’s daughter, a high-strung, hot-tempered divorcée and single mom named Katie, has announced that she’s going to marry her boyfriend, Ray, who is kindhearted and prosperous but too discomfitingly working-class for Mum and Dad’s tastes. And the gay son, Jamie, is going through a rough patch with his boyfriend, Tony. These circumstances conspire to make George depressed — first just a little, and then, as time goes on, a lot.
Read the entire New York Times review here. The first chapter of the book is also available for free on the NYT site.
