Parallel Lines

(Paperback)

Available Formats

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

The story of a brother and sister lost and found- a new novel to seize the heart and thrill the mind from the prizewinning author of the Patrick Melrose series Sebastian and Olivia have met only once, by chance, at a party, without knowing their relationship to one another. Olivia, adopted at birth by two north London psychoanalysts, has had a life of love and privilege. Her twin Sebastian, raised in very different circumstances, has spent his early adulthood between hospitals and halfway houses, trying to navigate the destructive inner voices that are the legacy of his childhood. When the siblings are brought together for a second time by their birth mother, in a misguided attempt at transparency that leaves Sebastian spiralling, a chain of events is set in motion that asks questions of every member of the extended family and their friends. A profound exploration of nature and nurture, intergenerational trauma and healing, and what a 'happy family' might possibly look like, this highly anticipated new novel from Edward St Aubyn is exceptional in its compassion and insight into its characters' inner lives.

Author Bio

Edward St Aubyn was born in London. His superbly acclaimed Patrick Melrose novels are Never Mind, Bad News, Some Hope, Mother's Milk (winner of the Prix Femina etranger and shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize), and At Last. The series was made into a BAFTA-award winning Sky Atlantic TV series starring Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role. St Aubyn is also the author of A Clue to the Exit, On the Edge (shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Prize), Lost for Words (winner of the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize), and Dunbar, his re-imagining of King Lear for Hogarth Shakespeare.