Unexploded

Alison MacLeod was raised in Canada and has lived in England since 1987. She is the author of three novels, The Changeling, The Wave Theory of Angels and Unexploded, and of a collection of stories, Fifteen Modern Tales of Attraction. Unexploded was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2013. She is Professor of Contemporary Fiction at Chichester University and lives in Brighton.

Unexploded is an unforgettable book. With exquisitely researched and rendered detail, the author plunges us into the panic and paranoia of war, fusing international politics, national politics and family politics in her powerful study of hypocrisy, oppression, cultural misunderstanding and desire -- Bidisha Love, fear and prejudice are all skilfully anatomised in this compellingly intimate exploration of life in war time Brighton Jane Rogers Finely wrought, moving and haunting. What a wonderful novel this is. Bravo Alison MacLeod -- Polly Samson A persuasive period setting, an intricate plot, sumptuous prose Daily Telegraph An exploration of the xenophobia and neurosis unleashed in times of national crisis ... MacLeod remains one of the most astute chaoticians writing today Guardian Compelling, fast-paced, powerful. The descriptions of wartime Brighton are pin-sharp ... the denouement is as heartrending as it is unexpected Financial Times An intelligent, perceptive novel by a writer of great descriptive power ... Like her modernist forebears, MacLeod knows that life and death, the terrible and the mundane always co-exist - her genius lies in illustrating these truths while simultaneously spinning a bona fide pageturner Daily Mail