Dreams of Rivers and Seas

'For some time now, I have been plagued, perhaps blessed, by dreams of rivers and seas, dreams of water." Just days after Albert James writes these lines to his son John, in London, he is dead. John flies to Delhi to join his mother in mourning but no sooner is the body consigned to the flames than a journalist arrives, determined to write a biography of the dead man. The widow will have nothing to do with the project, yet seems incapable of keeping away from the journalist. Tim Park's outstanding new novel is brimming with colour and life.