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Sat 07 Jul 2010Gift with a twist
FICTION:InheritanceBy Nicholas Shakespeare Harvill Secker, 254pp, £12.99
AS PLOTLINES go, it’s quite far-fetched: a young man, late for the funeral of a beloved schoolteacher, accidentally walks into the wrong chapel and – by a twist of fate and the extraordinary will of the departed stranger – ends up inheriting £17million. Yet the “inheritance” that Nicholas Shakespeare sets out to explore in his latest novel is more than just one of material gain – it asks deeper questions about cultural inheritance and the immigrant experience, and the legacy of damage that parents pass on to their children, in a story that takes the reader on a kaleidoscopic journey through history and across continents.
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