Audiobook and e-book fiction reviews: Celia Imrie, Ngaio Marsh, Clare Morrall
Morrall’s When the Floods Came is a memorable meditation on survival in a post-pandemic England, Philip Franks lends charm and wit to vintage crime fiction, and actress Imrie reads her own novel
by Clare Morrall
Hodder and Stoughton (e-book)
Clare Morrall made headlines when her debut novel Astonishing Splashes of Colour was shortlisted for the Booker in 2003. It was published by the tiny but astute Tindal Street when Morrall was almost 50. When the Floods Came is set in a strange if recognisable future, it whirls around the Polanski family who live in necessary isolation in a tower block in the English city of Birmingham. A pandemic has wiped out most of the population, which makes the Polanskis fairly remarkable. While the father, Popi, sculpts, his children Boris and Roza work for a Chinese tech company. In a world devoid of children, these young men and women are the only hope for the survival of the species. It also makes them potential targets for potential foes abroad in the country. These are personified by Aashay, a charismatic young man who arrives out of the blue to unsettle and charm in equal measure. Is he a force for good, bringing out the best of the reserved Polanskis, or a devil in disguise? The story is dreamlike but also thrilling, a meditation on myth-making, survival, society and nature. Whether you read it as a warning or a hymn to human goodness, When the Floods Came is memorable indeed.
by Ngaio Marsh (read by Philip Franks)