Nothing so wholesome as the love between a mother and a son, you might think. Well, not necessarily, if Justin Haythe's astonishingly poised debut is anything to go by.
Maureen Garraty has dedicated her life to the contemplation of beauty. She apparently believes the "single most important event of the 20th century" is painting's abstraction of the human form. The patronage of her ex-husband and various boyfriends enables her to drift around art galleries preparing an eccentric guidebook which will never be published, or even finished.
Dashing enough to mesmerise a few rich men, she is a pretentious misfit who preserves an idea of her own specialness by leading an increasingly isolated life.
Shot with grim humour, this is a character study of great subtlety, beautifully refracted through the bewildered eyes of Maureen's son Gordon, who observes but can't escape the corrosive effects of his mother's lifestyle. It also builds to a truly shocking denouement. Highly recommended.
The Honeymoon by Justin Haythe. Published in hardback by Picador priced £16.99
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