Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger Vintage, HK$104
As hard as it might seem, Niffenegger has followed on the success of her literary hole-in-one, The Time-Traveller's Wife, with this novel that leaves few gothic stones unturned. There is a ghost: our heroine, Elspeth Noblin, who dies of leukaemia only to return to her flat beside Highgate cemetery in north London. She is soon joined by her pale, identical twin nieces, Julia and Valentina, who inherit the flat. There is Elspeth's grieving boyfriend, Robert, who is writing his thesis on the cemetery. Finally, there is Martin, an obsessive compulsive who lives in the flat above Elspeth's. The characters gradually intertwine in a baroque soap opera: Robert falls for Valentina because she looks like Elspeth. Elspeth lurks until Valentina feels her presence. Julia starts giving Martin OCD medication; a diary exposes a dark secret between Elspeth and her sister, Edwina, which turns everything back to front - a good plot device for a story obsessed with mirrors, reflections and indeed obsession. Like most fine gothic novelists, Niffenegger treads a fine line between nonsense and entertainment: Elspeth Noblin? It is to her credit that she is so entertaining. Just.