I don't believe this country has a better writer to offer than James Buchan. I can't think of anyone who concedes so much of his own intelligence to his protagonists - doesn't mock or belittle them - and gives them so much world to do battle with. I see no particular limitation to his scope or style: his stunningly curt dialogues and ravishing recitatives are equally persuasive. No one writes better short sentences; he has a strong grasp of form; an Occam-ish economy (this is his first book over two hundred pages); and is utterly without the factitiousness - the I'll-pretend-to-write-a-novel-and-you-pretend-to-read-it - that seems so current in England. In the end - though this is bizarre - he is probably a religious novelist, whose theme is salvation, though I'd be surprised if he's actually used the word anywhere. Most tantalisingly, he is still better than any of his books.

LRB 20 April 1995 | PDF Download