The hardest thing, finally, is to accept our insignificance in the scheme of things - or perhaps to accept that there is no 'scheme of things'. Tom Harper, a 43-year-old Australian psychologist, is in self-imposed exile in London, living down a sexual indiscretion with a client. Through a chance meeting at the Royal Academy, he makes friends with Sarah Delacour, an academic who studies nursery rhymes. Sarah is beautiful, charming and smart, but she is morally trapped - and perhaps corrupted - by decisions she has made in the past. As Tom and Sarah's relationship evolves, many layers of infidelity emerge. Tom falls deeply in love and waits for Sarah to reciprocate. But while Sarah is brilliant at playing the role of a woman in love, Tom fears her ultimate commitment may be to securing a life of luxury. Through his fiction and non-fiction, Hugh Mackay has developed a reputation as an acute and compassionate observer of the human condition, with all its shades of light and dark. In this beautifully written tale of love and the desire for control, he explores one of life's most troubling do our circumstances justify or merely explain our behaviour?
Author
Hugh Mackay is a social researcher and novelist who has made a lifelong study of the attitudes and behaviour of Australians. He is the author of twelve books, including five bestsellers. The second edition of his latest non-fiction book, Advance Australia…Where? was published in September 2008, and his fifth novel, Ways of Escape was published in May 2009. He is a fellow of the Australian Psychological Society and received the University of Sydney’s 2004 Alumni Award for community service. In recognition of his pioneering work in social research, Hugh has been awarded honorary doctorates by Charles Sturt, Macquarie and NSW universities. He is a former deputy chairman of the Australia Council, a former chairman of trustees of Sydney Grammar School, and was the inaugural chairman of the ACT government’s Community Inclusion Board. He was a newspaper columnist for almost 30 years and now writes occasionally for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The West Australian. He is a frequent guest on ABC radio.
- Biography from Hugh Mackay's website
