‘DAMAGE’ by Josephine Hart, 1991
So this is a bit of a departure from the usual crime fiction I tend to pick, but as I read it I realised it has many hallmarks of old-fashioned noir – sexual obsession, a feeling of dream-like displacement, and a prevailing sense of doomed fatality running through. Like all good crime fiction, it also arrives like a slap to the face. I found a copy of this innocuous 200-odd page book on my way, and by the time I got to the office, I was seduced.
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| Joseohune Hart |
Alison Flood
Friday 13 June 2011
Victor described her as "a great impresario". "The parts of her life were quite distinct but united by literature. She was a wonderful writer, who wrote what she wanted to write – she was not a cookie-cutter writer. Sometimes her books weren't commercial; Oblivion was aptly titled. [But] Damage was a huge success. It sold in 26 languages and many, many copies, but she never intended it to be a bestseller. She wrote it because she wanted to write it, and then it became a huge worldwide success. She was dazzled by her own success, surprised and delighted by it," he said.
