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After I finished reading Wolf Hall last Friday—it’s excellent, worthy of the raves—I thought I’d clear my head with a “light entertainment” and started on The Separation by Christopher Priest. I’d never read Priest before; all I knew was that he wrote the novel upon which Christopher Nolan’s movie The Prestige is based.

The Separation jumped at me from the Science-Fiction section of NBS Shangrila—I liked the spare brown paper cover which didn’t have a title or author. It’s supposed to be an alternate history as seen through the eyes of identical twins (Hmm, doubles again) who compete at the 1936 Berlin Olympics (rowing, coxless pairs), fall in love with the same woman, then part ways at the start of World War II—one flies a bomber, the other becomes a conscientious objector. It’s much more than that. For one thing it is not an alternate history but many alternate histories happening at the same time and intersecting with each other at certain points—Winston Churchill, Rudolf Hess’s flight to Scotland allegedly with a peace plan, the woman both brothers love. The Separation is so intelligently-plotted and well-written that the reader always knows which “reality” she’s in, even if the characters don’t.

Cracked the book open at 6pm; did not stir from the spot for the next seven hours except to get something to eat—snacks that I could eat while reading. Why had I not read Christopher Priest before? Was my book radar off? (Although I’m happy that I don’t have a “proper” job that won’t interfere with my reading books or watching movies.)

The following morning I called National Bookstore Shangrila and reserved every copy they had. They had three. Then I went to Fully-Booked, which fortunately was having a sale, and bought another Priest novel I’d been eyeing called Inverted World. What I intend to do with three copies is not yet clear to me, but I have to make people read it. As many people as I can manage.