Synopses & Reviews
From the bestselling and award-winning author of the Patrick
Melrose novels, a hilarious and moving story about a group of wildly
different characters whose fates are improbably yet inextricably
linked--a novel about extinction and survival, inheritance and loss,
written with St. Aubyn's trademark wit and inimitable style
It's the summer, and Sebastian is in treatment following a
breakdown that has left him grappling with his fragile grip on reality
and his persistent hunger to connect with the biological mother who
abandoned him as a child. His therapist, Martin, is facing challenges of
his own, including his adopted daughter's tenuous relationship with her
own biological mother--a predicament that makes Sebastian's struggle
feel uncannily proximate to her own. Olivia is producing a radio series
on catastrophic natural disasters, which itself seems to be running
parallel to the events unfolding in her personal life, as her best
friend, Lucy, faces a grave diagnosis, and her husband, Francis, pursues
his mission of re-wilding the world. Over the course of the next year
their fates collide in outrageous and poignant ways, as each of their
destinies is revealed in a marvelous new light.
With characteristic brilliance and humor,
Parallel Lines investigates themes of dualism, determinism,
connection, and love. St. Aubyn captures the life of the spirit as
vibrantly as the life of the mind, in a novel that wrestles with moral
and psychic anguish and the cascading consequences of our choices at
every stage of life. A thrilling, wholly captivating work from one of
the most gifted writers at work today.
About the Author
EDWARD ST. AUBYN was born in London. His acclaimed Patrick Melrose novels are
Never Mind,
Bad News,
Some Hope,
Mother's Milk (winner of the Prix Femina étranger and shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize), and
At Last. The series was made into a BAFTA Award-winning Sky
Atlantic TV series starring Benedict Cumberbatch. St. Aubyn is also the
author of
A Clue to the Exit,
On the Edge (shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Prize),
Lost for Words (winner of the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize),
Dunbar, and
Double Blind.