Читать книгу Walcot - Brian Aldiss - Страница 7

‘You are free men, whatever that means.’ So says Steve Fielding to some German soldiers, whose lives he spares during the closing events of a world war, in the freezing cold Ardennes. But Steve, as we learn in this complex unfolding of a life, is himself not a free man.

We find him first of all as a child, playing alone on a Norfolk beach – the beach that gives this complex tale its title.

Already, like a tide, doubt enters his life. Is he in danger? High on the dunes, a woman, almost a stranger, looks to see if Steve is safe.

So the question arises, to be solved if possible: do Steve’s parents wish to get rid of him? In love, in war or peace – or in an uncertain interlude between the two – the uncertainty continues to tease.

As this delightful and complex story unfolds, the reader meets new astonishments and some strange old events.

Questions remain, but now there’s beloved Verity – and a cheetah – and of course the sort of unexpected we all expect to meet.

A long and intriguing story unfolds before us.

Brian W. Aldiss

Oxford, 2015