John Metcalf

"Sometimes I forget that my Mum is dead. But that is probably better than remembering. When Frankie's mother dies, the six-year-old comes up with a plan: go to France, find a police station, and ask the officers to ring his father--and so begins Giller-nominated Pauline Holdstock's eighth novel. Narrated in turns by Frankie, who likes cheese, numbers, the sea when it's pink and "smooth like counting," and being alone when he feels bad, and a cast...