GlassHouse

Fiction. Longlisted for The Guardians 2019 Not the Booker Prize. Set in and around Jardin des Plantes Paris Europe the World the Universe Armands short novel is a whodunit with multiple twists. The setting of the tale against a backdrop of fossils and marvels of taxidermy gives Armands story a macroscopic dimension. As if the evolution of an entire species could be compressed into several hours of a Sunday morning. As if a tale of a murdered schoolteacher and a vengeful mob could tell of speciation and extinction throughout the evolutionary history of life on Earth. And it can. Armands deftly written fragmentary narrative is a point-counter-point of silent unheard voices whose apocalyptic finale eschews euphony in favour of a cacophonous refusal of resolution. NO END?loose ends being preferable to final solutions...