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Books

Michael Arditti is the Graham Greene of our time

A review of Michael Arditti’s Widows and Orphans suggests that we are all waifs and strays now in our broken society

28 February 2015

9:00 AM

28 February 2015

9:00 AM

Widows and Orphans Michael Arditti

Arcadia, pp.351, £14.99

Duncan Neville is an unlikely hero for a novel. Approaching 50, divorced and the butt of his teenage son Jamie’s utter contempt, Duncan is also the eloquent yet mild-mannered editor of the Francombe Mercury, a local newspaper on its last legs. Francombe too has seen better days, not least since its pier burnt down in 2013 (an event covered fulsomely in the Mercury).

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