Synopses & Reviews
"There is no life without a double life. And yet one grows weary..." Recently promoted to the position of Crown Court judge jealous colleagues suggest it might be because he is black Daniel Savage decides at midlife that its finally time to settle down, foreswear philandering, and rededicate himself to his family. His career demands the most responsible behavior he must be above suspicion. But Savage has been leading a double life for far too long, and a young woman from his past who holds a secret that could ruin his career and marriage begins making mysterious calls to his house. As tangled lies are solemnly ironed out in his court, Judge Savage finds his own existence suddenly descending into a mess of violence and confusion, and attempts desperately to get a grip on his world in the face of increasingly certain disaster.
Review
"Frankly, the best British author working today." Joseph Brodsky
Review
"Captivating narrative...[Parks's] inventive prose, incisive social commentary and bizzare sense of scene and character reaffirm his standing as one of England's better stylists." Publishers Weekly
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"Judge Savage...is at once an intricate, skillfully constructed mystery and a meditation on innocence and guilt, crime and punishment, loyalty and betrayal....The novel is a bravura performance, a tour de force, and must be admired as such. But is is also a deeply humane portrait of one of the most complicated and interesting characters of recent fiction." Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post Book World
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"For all its intricacy, the novel moves as briskly as a book half its length....Best of all, Parks has a keen sense of how fine the balance is between the explainable and the unexplainable....Judge Savage [is] among his finest achievements." The Seattle Times
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"With its large cast of dysfunctional characters, Parks's novel functions as a quirky mystery of sorts, though who's responsible for bringing about Savage's downfall (besides himself) is less original than the way it's delivered through the judge's clinical eye." Library Journal
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"Another worthy effort from a reliable source." Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
A gripping, suspenseful, and compulsively readable novel about a powerful man who lives a double life from the author Jonathan Yardley calls "one of the most gifted writers of his generation."
About the Author
Tim Parks is the author of 16 books, including the novels Judge Savage, Europa, Destiny, Juggling the Stars and the nonfiction works Italian Neighbors, An Italian Education, Adultery and Other Diversions, Hell and Back, and A Season with Verona. He has been awarded the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award, and the Betty Trask Award. His novel Europa was short-listed for the Booker Prize. He and his family live in Verona, Italy.