Peter Ackroyd's new novel has been caught in the Gadarene rush of fiction brought out in time for the Booker Prize deadline. It won't be lost in this year's profusion of titles, and it won't be harmed by the published assurance of a colleague of his on the Times that it is 'a sure contender' for the prize. But it will also have to contend for the admiration of Ackroyd's readers with its predecessor of 1985, Hawksmoor.[*] These are books which do much to explain one another. Both books mingle old times and new times, and both give expression to fantasies of replication, with Hawksmoor a hard act to follow.

LRB 3 September 1987 | PDF Download