The Penny Falls
The remarkable thing about the Lyne twins is that there are three of them.
There’s Pablo – inspired, creative and damaged, carried on a wave of dumb luck towards a moment of fratricidal release.
There’s Tom – a sceptic and a womaniser, stiff with hidden resentment and dismissive wit.
And there is – or there was, or there may yet be – Perdito, the third twin, part ghost and part derangement, a threat and a promise. He wants a body to call his own, and he feels he has two to choose from.
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“Delightful, surprising, disturbing, and unfailingly honest in its style and themes, The Penny Falls reminds me of Jonathan Franzen at his best. Bastable earns the reader’s trust early on, then delivers with a flurry of intense final scenes that kept me up well past my bedtime.”
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“Mark Bastable’s command of the English language draws you in and you soon get totally immersed. It is a real page turner. One minute you favour one character, the next you turn to the other. A brilliant web of a plot that keeps you guessing right to the very end.”
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“The Penny Falls reminded me of the best bits of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Bastable uses lyrical description to redefine sensory experience and somehow succeeds in turning the “monster within” into a sympathetic character.”
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“A highly insightful and entertaining story of brothers’ relationships. Both the skilled storytelling and the rich, often humorous development of the interwoven characters are hugely enjoyable.”
