by Graham Swift (Author)
`Serious, moving and often very funny indeed' Observer
Prentis, senior clerk in the `dead crimes' department of police archives, is becoming more and more confused.
Alienated from his wife and children, and obsessed by his father, a wartime hero now the mute inmate of a mental hospital, Prentis feels increasingly unsettled as his enigmatic boss, Mr Quinn, turns his investigation towards him - and his father.
Gradually Prentis suspects that his father's breakdown and Quinn's menacing behaviour are connected and the link is to be found in his father's memoirs, `Shuttlecock' . . .
`Excellent, profound' Alan Hollinghurst, London Review of Books
`An astonishing study of forms of guilt, laced with a thread of detection, and puckering now and then into outrageous humour' Sunday Times
`A superbly written claustrophobic account of power that corrupts private and public life and of guilt that becomes obsession' Daily Telegraph
`Swift's central strength as a writer is his integrity. Story and character are treated with a seriousness and respect that while allowing for the oddity of human behaviour - Shuttlecock is thoroughly and beautifully odd - always honours them' Times Literary Supplement
Format: Paperback
Pages: 224
Publisher: Picador
Published: 02 Apr 2010
ISBN 10: 0330518259
ISBN 13: 9780330518253