THE LIGHT OF DAY
Graham Swift, . . Knopf, $24 (336pp) ISBN 978-0-375-41549-4
George Webb, a divorced ex-cop and the narrator of this fine novel, works as a private investigator in London specializing in "matrimonial work": finding evidence of philandering. Some of the tearful women who enter his office become lovers (one, Rita, becomes his heart-of-gold assistant), but Sarah Nash becomes something altogether different. A language teacher and translator, she wants Webb to follow her husband and his lover, Kristina Lazic, a refugee taken in by the Nashes, to the airport "to see if she really goes"—alone—back to Croatia. Sarah knows the truth of the affair already; she's just looking for a sign that her husband can love her again. But the story belongs to Webb, through a masterful interior monologue that links the action of the present with a meditation on the past. Webb's movements on a particular day in November furnish the opportunity to learn about his childhood, his failed marriage, his career as a policeman terminated by a minor scandal and his constrained and lonely life. Sarah becomes Webb's opportunity for a second chance at happiness and redemption. But that reality will have to wait until her release from prison (it's not giving away the plot to note her crime: the murder of her husband). While this story sounds a bit like an American noir thriller from the 1930s (and Swift's title may be a nod to the noir fascination with night and shadow), the Booker Prize–winning author (for
Reviewed on: 03/31/2003
Genre: Fiction
Compact Disc - 978-1-6651-8406-9
Compact Disc - 978-1-56511-767-9
Downloadable Audio - 978-1-4711-8739-1
Hardcover - 243 pages - 978-0-241-14204-2
MP3 CD - 978-1-6651-8405-2
Open Ebook - 201 pages - 978-0-307-42892-9
Open Ebook - 336 pages - 978-1-4472-0389-6
Other - 1 pages - 978-1-59887-306-1
Paperback - 336 pages - 978-1-4000-3221-1
Paperback - 306 pages - 978-1-4472-0111-3
Paperback - 322 pages - 978-0-14-101201-8
Paperback - 336 pages - 978-0-679-31246-8
Pre-Recorded Audio Player - 978-1-60252-844-4