The Quality of Light by Richard Collins review

by Anna Scott

A love affair full of tantalising promise lies at the heart of Collins's novel. Yet ironically, given its all-consuming, angst-ridden nature, it remains unconsummated. This failure to get "horizontal together" is perhaps partly the reason why the time putative lovers Daniel and Isabel share seems so precious. Several years later, and no longer in touch, they wander separately around the same city, revisiting their memories of an art project they both participated in, "Psychogeography for Beginners". Meanwhile, Michael, the artist who headed the project, also meanders round the city, similarly preoccupied with the past and fearful of a future his diagnosis with Parkinson's seems to render hopeless. Everyday objects and scenes are transformed into tableaux of immense emotional significance. Employing a shifting narrative which flits between past and present and unfolds via the memories of his three central characters, Collins deftly pieces together the anatomy of a relationship, imagining what could have been, and offering a hint of hope for what might still come to pass.


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