Peculiar Ground

One of the best novels of the year so far' (The Times).

A SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR.

'Unlike anything I've read. Haunting and huge, and funny and sensuous. It's wonderful' (Tessa Hadley). 'I just enjoyed it so very much' (Philip Pullman).

It is the 17th century and a wall is being built around a great house. Wychwood is an enclosed world, its ornamental lakes and majestic avenues planned by Mr Norris, landscape-maker. A world where everyone has something to hide after decades of civil war, where dissidents shelter in the forest, lovers linger in secret gardens, and migrants, fleeing the plague, are turned away from the gate. Three centuries later, another wall goes up overnight, dividing Berlin, while at Wychwood, over one hot, languorous weekend, erotic entanglements are shadowed by news of historic change.