Many of the Londoners in this novel are outcasts - some are criminals in society’s eyes. Most are descended from adventurers and immigrants. The worlds they inhabit - the bedsit; the cruisers’ pub - lie cheek by jowl with the worlds of the affluent and successful - the smart restaurant, the House of Commons Committee room.Al, the narrator, is a Londoner born and bred, a writer living in a small room in West London. Most of the other residents in the cavernous Victorian house - and the friends and acquaintances Al meets in tow local pubs, the bohemian and relaxed crowd at the Nevern and the slightly more ambiguous and dangerous crowd at the Knacker’s - are Londoners by adoption, some temporary exiles, some permanent.

Wounds begins with two lovers in bed. Their lovemaking throughout the book forms a recurring lietmotif, a counterpoint to the examination of the spiritual death of the characters.In a South London environment of pub and fairground, home and work, the wounds of 20th century experience are evoked in prose which is both lyrical and precise. Kingy in her garden, ‘loved by the most handsome women in the world’; Maura the barmaid: ‘I prefer the little, thin men'; Glisten the Mayor: ‘It’ll be take-over time and too late’ — these and the many other characters illustrate the basic theme of the novel.

Many of the Londoners in this novel are outcasts - some are criminals in society’s eyes. Most are descended from adventurers and immigrants. The worlds they inhabit - the bedsit; the cruisers’ pub - lie cheek by jowl with the worlds of the affluent and successful - the smart restaurant, the House of Commons Committee room.Al, the narrator, is a Londoner born and bred, a writer living in a small room in West London. Most of the other residents in the cavernous Victorian house - and the friends and acquaintances Al meets in tow local pubs, the bohemian and relaxed crowd at the Nevern and the slightly more ambiguous and dangerous crowd at the Knacker’s - are Londoners by adoption, some temporary exiles, some permanent.

Wounds begins with two lovers in bed. Their lovemaking throughout the book forms a recurring lietmotif, a counterpoint to the examination of the spiritual death of the characters.In a South London environment of pub and fairground, home and work, the wounds of 20th century experience are evoked in prose which is both lyrical and precise. Kingy in her garden, ‘loved by the most handsome women in the world’; Maura the barmaid: ‘I prefer the little, thin men'; Glisten the Mayor: ‘It’ll be take-over time and too late’ — these and the many other characters illustrate the basic theme of the novel.

A lone Londoner maps the city, hearing beneath its surface the urgent whispers of the past. As he listens he grows convinced they are predicting London's future.Meepers, homeless and dishevelled, yet an enlightened and mystically knowing amateur archaeologist, seeks to understand the destruction of London in the Dark Ages, hoping to predict the capital's future. A university historian, writes to his absent wife as he prepares for the start of term. He once rejected for publication a 'crackpot' article by Meepers, and is alarmed to find he has appeared at his first lecture. And now the man seems to be following him everywhere he goes. In a dazzling mixture of contemporary life and period speech, London is illuminated through the voices of Neanderthal man, Saxon kings, anonymous invaders, the flea that spread the Black Death and the transsexual King Elizabeth.

Many of the Londoners in this novel are outcasts - some are criminals in society’s eyes. Most are descended from adventurers and immigrants. The worlds they inhabit - the bedsit; the cruisers’ pub - lie cheek by jowl with the worlds of the affluent and successful - the smart restaurant, the House of Commons Committee room.Al, the narrator, is a Londoner born and bred, a writer living in a small room in West London. Most of the other residents in the cavernous Victorian house - and the friends and acquaintances Al meets in tow local pubs, the bohemian and relaxed crowd at the Nevern and the slightly more ambiguous and dangerous crowd at the Knacker’s - are Londoners by adoption, some temporary exiles, some permanent.

Wounds begins with two lovers in bed. Their lovemaking throughout the book forms a recurring lietmotif, a counterpoint to the examination of the spiritual death of the characters.In a South London environment of pub and fairground, home and work, the wounds of 20th century experience are evoked in prose which is both lyrical and precise. Kingy in her garden, ‘loved by the most handsome women in the world’; Maura the barmaid: ‘I prefer the little, thin men'; Glisten the Mayor: ‘It’ll be take-over time and too late’ — these and the many other characters illustrate the basic theme of the novel.

Many of the Londoners in this novel are outcasts - some are criminals in society’s eyes. Most are descended from adventurers and immigrants. The worlds they inhabit - the bedsit; the cruisers’ pub - lie cheek by jowl with the worlds of the affluent and successful - the smart restaurant, the House of Commons Committee room.Al, the narrator, is a Londoner born and bred, a writer living in a small room in West London. Most of the other residents in the cavernous Victorian house - and the friends and acquaintances Al meets in tow local pubs, the bohemian and relaxed crowd at the Nevern and the slightly more ambiguous and dangerous crowd at the Knacker’s - are Londoners by adoption, some temporary exiles, some permanent.

Wounds begins with two lovers in bed. Their lovemaking throughout the book forms a recurring lietmotif, a counterpoint to the examination of the spiritual death of the characters.In a South London environment of pub and fairground, home and work, the wounds of 20th century experience are evoked in prose which is both lyrical and precise. Kingy in her garden, ‘loved by the most handsome women in the world’; Maura the barmaid: ‘I prefer the little, thin men'; Glisten the Mayor: ‘It’ll be take-over time and too late’ — these and the many other characters illustrate the basic theme of the novel.

A lone Londoner maps the city, hearing beneath its surface the urgent whispers of the past. As he listens he grows convinced they are predicting London's future.Meepers, homeless and dishevelled, yet an enlightened and mystically knowing amateur archaeologist, seeks to understand the destruction of London in the Dark Ages, hoping to predict the capital's future. A university historian, writes to his absent wife as he prepares for the start of term. He once rejected for publication a 'crackpot' article by Meepers, and is alarmed to find he has appeared at his first lecture. And now the man seems to be following him everywhere he goes. In a dazzling mixture of contemporary life and period speech, London is illuminated through the voices of Neanderthal man, Saxon kings, anonymous invaders, the flea that spread the Black Death and the transsexual King Elizabeth.