The Lost Boy

Set on a Greek island where we are continually aware of the differences with the main characters' American home. Paula Fox stresses the emotional and social richness of this sparsely 'modern' world, the richness of its past, where life seems stripped down to the clarity of essentials. Paul and Lily, brother and sister, are suddenly allowed to be closer, drawn to each other, until the exciting and enigmatic Jack appears and creates a triangle of tensions with Paul and Lily. And with an awful inevitability there is a new tragedy following hard upon the performance of an old one. Paula Fox goes out of her way to cut out the sugar and fizz of so much of the modern diet of storytelling. Readers will come to enjoy this for its subtlety and power.