Author(s): Tim Parks

Fiction

Years after a family tragedy cut short their secret affair, a man retraces a walk through the Alps that he took with the love of his life

Michael Burrow is on a walking holiday in Switzerland with his lover, Susan. They have had a long and secret love affair, but now that Susan's two children have left school, they plan to start their life together. Michael has bought a house for them to live in and, when they return, Susan will break the news to her family. However, their plans are upended when Susan receives a phone call with news of a tragic death. She gets on the next plane back to London, and she and Michael never see each other again.

Many years later, retracing their steps, Michael will discover many things about their love, about Susan, her husband and her children - and about himself. Mr Geography is a classic, elegant novel for readers of Graham Swift, Howard Jacobson and Julian Barnes, about a reckoning in later life.