A Spot of Bother

A Spot of Bother

George Hall is an unobtrusive man. A little distant, perhaps, a little cautious, not at quite at ease with the emotional demands of fatherhood, or manly bonhomie. He does not understand the modern obsession with talking about everything. â€œThe secret of contentment, George felt, lay in ignoring many things completely.â€ Some things in life, however, cannot be ignored.

At 61, George is settling down to a comfortable retirement, building a shed in his garden, reading historical novels and listening to a bit of light jazz. Then his tempestuous daughter, Katie, announces that she is getting re-married, to the deeply inappropriate Ray. Her family is not pleased â€“ as her brother Jamie observes, Ray has â€œstranglerâ€™s hands.â€ Katie canâ€™t decide if she loves Ray, or loves the wonderful way he has with her son Jacob, and her mother Jean is a bit put out by all the planning and arguing the wedding has occasioned, which get in the way of her quite fulfilling late-life affair with one of her husbandâ€™s ex-colleagues. And the tidy and pleasant life Jamie has created crumbles when he fails to invite his lover, Tony, to the dreaded nuptials.

Unnoticed in the uproar, George discovers a sinister lesion on his hip, and quietly begins to lose his mind.

The way these damaged people fall apart â€“ and come together â€“ as a family is the true subject of Haddonâ€™s disturbing yet amusing portrait of a dignified man trying to go insane politely.

A SPOT OF BOTHER is Mark Haddonâ€™s unforgettable follow-up to the internationally beloved bestseller THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME. Here the madness â€“ literally â€“ of family life proves rich comic fodder for Haddonâ€™s crackling prose and bittersweet insights into misdirected love.
Country USA
Manufacturer Doubleday
Binding Hardcover
ReleaseDate 2006-09-05
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780385520515

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Doubleday
Binding	Hardcover
ReleaseDate	2006-09-05
UnitCount	1
EANs	9780385520515

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