by A. S. Byatt
First published 2000
Disillusioned academic Phineas G. abandons his ivory tower to research the life of a celebrated biographer. But as he delves into the subject's murky past, Phineas finds only fragments and gaps – a box of marbles, a collection of tools, scattered photographs. Chasing leads from Africa to the Arctic, he weaves a tangled web of detection and desire, piecing together a portrait of the elusive biographer while also reckoning with his own uncertain future.
Genres: literary-fiction, contemporary, biographical-fiction, academic
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Setting: Africa, Arctic
Period: 20th-century
272 pages · Hardcover · London: Chatto & Windus (2000).