To The Last Page

I was impressed with Phil Harrison's debut novel, The First Day , an ambitious study of faith and self-questioning (or self-destruction), though I though it was perhaps necessary to have some awareness of the implications of being Protestant preacher in a relationship with a Catholic woman in Northern Ireland while sectarian tensions were - and for some remain - an issue. There were certainly wider issues contained within this worldview relating to family, masculinity and changing times, and while still in the particular context of Northern Ireland and the legacy of the troubles, it's those issues that are extended into a different social context in the Belfast author's second novel. You don't have to be of a certain frame of mind or cultural background however to see certain big archetypal themes jump out at you even in the first few pages of Silverback ; a trial, judgement, death, patricide, religion. We learn that James Fechner, who is taking part in jury service, wo...