Heaven and Earth

Life might have been very different for Gideon.
Failed academic turned literary odd-jobber, Gideon Shand is bedevilled by his youth. Through his own fault, the chance of a brilliant Cambridge career has been missed. Nor is all well with his seemingly happy marriage: his wife should have married someone else...
When Gideon s alter ego, Stephen Heilman, helps the Shands move to his own neighbourhood from the troublesome city of Chaworth, the past finally catches up with them, forcing Gideon to face the truth.
This stylish novel of sexual deceit, ambition- and failure - has all the mordant wit and stinging social comment that mark Raphael as one of our most dazzling novelists.
Raphael is spot on in his observation.
One of our most competent and consistently entertaining chroniclers - Guardian
By far and away the best thing he has ever done. The book is written with great aplomb... and the dialogue is exceptional -Financial Times
Cover illustration by Gary Keane

Gideon Shand, the hero of this densely plotted novel, is a free-lance historian and writer, desperately trying to extricate his family from the squalor of the lower-middle-class community in which they live. After his son is beaten up by local bullies, Gideon reluctantly accepts financial assistance from his wealthy best friend, Stephen. The Shands' ensuing move, however, precipitates a series of disasters that expose the fraudulent nature of the family's relationships to each other and to Stephen. While some of the coincidences in the novel strain credulity, Raphael's portrait of the underside of the British intelligentsia is rich in nuance and texture. The dialogue is intelligent; the characters are memorable. A fine novel from the author of Darling and The Glittering Prizes. For most public libraries. Andrea Caron Kempf, Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, Kan.
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.