The Second Sleep
By Robert Harris
Hutchinson, 320pp, £20/$26.95
A new book by Robert Harris is a joyful event, for he has repeatedly proven that he has the gift of finding “what oft was thought, but ne’er so well expressed”, and building a novel on the results.
What if Hitler had won the War? That idea gave rise to Fatherland, one of the best thrillers of our time. What if Stalin had had an heir? The answer to that is to be found in Archangel. And now, what if the contemporary world were to be overtaken by catastrophe? Where would that catastrophe come from? And what might the new world of the surviving remnant be like?
