FOOTNOTES ... James MEEK

FOOTNOTES
James Meek’s
The People’s Act of Love (2005)

THE novel is not dead, as claimed by some people in the literary world; good fiction still has the power to enthrall us, to tell us lots of things about our lives and the world we inhabit, to change the way we see the world. Read James Meek’s third novel, The People’s Act of Love (2005), and you will understand what I mean. It’s not often you get to enjoy such a well-written and -realised work of literary fiction; there’s love, war, death and grim but wonderful insights into the nature of humanity, all written in Meek’s clear, lucid prose.

Bibliography
MEEK James [1962-] Novelist, short-story writer. Born in London, England. Novels The People’s Act of Love (2005: winner of the 2006 Ondaatje Prize and the 2006 Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year Award); Drivetime (1995); McFarlane Boils the Sea (1989) Stories The Museum of Doubt (2000); Last Orders and Other Stories (1992)

“Meek rewards us with characters we care about, and characters we fear, with language that feels crisp and fresh as new snow, in a novel that explores big ideas—sex and death, humanity and evil, guilt and redemption—without ever taking its eye off the story.” Paula Morris, New Zealand Listener