Losing Faith

Five people meet at University, discuss their hopes and dreams and share similar ideologies. Eight years later, on a reunion holiday in France, one of them, Faith, suddenly dies, and as the remaining four come to terms with her death, they realise they are no longer what they used to be. Mike's social conscience has bowed before the lure of profit from property speculation, while Luke's disciplined religious faith has found a softer niche in Pastoral England. Nicole is dissatisfied with her career as a teacher, and the fourth? Well, he is still in love with Faith... This novel cleverly uses time distortion to switch between the present and the past as the nameless narrator struggles to accept the extent to which his sense of identity was grounded in Faith. Faith herself becomes more mysterious as the circumstances surrounding her death become clearer and the unexpected appearance of her sister adds an eery postscript to her life. The ambitious crafting of the plot does not distract from the novel's essential preoccupation with the malaise of late twentysomethings, and the tense writing is subtle enough to convey the ennui that has settled over their present despite the disturbing hauntings of the past. A fine novel. --Claire Allfree


Genre: Mystery