Ten Seconds From The Sun

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Description

Ray Greenland is an exemplary family man and Thames River pilot who can navigate people safely in the here and now, while his wife Lily, in her capacity as a director of a dating agency, arranges their happy futures. But what none of those around him know, including Lily and their children, is that Ray's life is not his own; he is mortgaged to a past that might, at any time, come to claim him back.

When Ray was twelve he did something so wrong he must live under a false identity for the rest of his life. He tries to atone by loving his family, while protecting them against the pernicious truth; telling stories from other people's happier lives and claiming them as his own. The only safe place for him is on the lower reaches of the Thames. But it's on land where Ray's past resurfaces and a lifetime of caution may not be enough to save him.

TEN SECONDS FROM THE SUN has the pace and hallmark of a classic tragedy, reaching back into the mythology of childhood and revealing it as an avenging nemesis.

Reviews

'A tightly written story that delves into one of the few real taboos left in our plundered stock' Sophie Lewis, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'The imaginative command is masterly, the tension unbearable. It grips from first to last' Geoff Dyer 'This is, on one level, a brilliant psychological thriller, so tightly plotted that it's hard to put down. But Celyn Jones achieves more than this. Beautifully and allusively written, the novel is a twenty-first century GREAT EXPECTATIONS that touches on the idea of ruptured childhood innocence and the alarming fact that we may never really know the people we love. Noirishly gripping ... one of the most readable novels of the year' DAILY MAIL 'It's hard to resist the novel's hypnotic pull.' SUNDAY TIMES 'TEN SECONDS FROM THE SUN is breathtakingly visceral and utterly compelling. The combination of the narrator's intimate, confessional approach, unsentimental yet profoundly moving, with the author's gift for narrative and well of riverine detail, is a winning one.' INDEPENDENT 'A grim and gripping read, which quite unexpectedly, at its conclusion, allows a flicker of light and hope.' THE TIMES 'Menacing and deeply uncomfortable, this is a psychological thriller of very high calibre.' TIME OUT 'It's a courageously secular meditation on the possibility of redemption, distinctly reminiscent of Graham Swift's masterpiece, WASTELAND.' BOOKSELLER 'Celyn Jones uses taut prose to create a creeping sense of menace... More than just a clever psychological thriller, this novel is a terrifying exploration of how we define guilt and innocence, truth, fiction and memory.' OBSERVER 'Ferociously powerful and unsettling - long after you've finished reading, the ripples keep on coming. Somehow Celyn Jones zooms in on the innermost edges of personality, the zone where experience, intent and action blur. The effect is both frightening and moving' Julie Myerson

Author Bio

Russell Celyn Jones is the author of five other highly acclaimed novels. He is a regular book reviewer for THE TIMES and has written features for numerous national papers. He was the recipient of a Society of Authors Award in 1996.