Love and Mr Lewisham

Feb 25, 2026 9:32 AM

Author:H G Wells,Gillian Beer,Simon James

Young, impoverished and ambitious, science student Mr Lewisham is locked in a struggle to further himself through academic achievement. But when his former sweetheart, Ethel Henderson, re-enters his life his strictly regimented existence is thrown into chaos by the resurgence of old passion. Driven by overwhelming desire, he pursues Ethel passionately, only to find that while she returns his love she also hides a dark secret. For she is involved in a plot of trickery that goes against his firmest beliefs, working as an assistant to her stepfather - a cynical charlatan 'mystic' who earns his living by deluding the weak-willed with sly trickery.

Reviews

'In this superior, self-deprecating thriller, the workings of the plot are secondary to the elegiac realism of the story'

—— Daily Telegraph

'Edric is a terrific storyteller but he also provides a pretty accurate picture of modern-day crime and the way that it affects so many people. Impressive stuff'

—— Observer

'Edric keeps his readers - and Rivers - dangling on a tangled string'

—— Scotsman

'Edric shows his mastery over the complexities of a crime thriller ... Classic whodunit territory and lovers of the genre will find Siren Song right up their street'

—— Yorkshire Evening Post

Intense, elegant, despairing prose...deeply affecting

—— Guardian

A transcendentally harmonious and compassionate work

—— Times Literary Supplement

A surprisingly tender book... Amid the terror a classic story about love sneaks through: love lost, love imagined, love morphed into madness

—— New York Times Book Review

Beautifully written... It puts a human face on the suffering inflicted by the Taliban... Disturbing and mesmerizing, The Swallows of Kabul will stay with you long after you've finished it

—— San Francisco Chronicle

Riveting... Spare, taut, and pristinely clear prose... An uncanny knack for making moral tension palpable... Extraordinarily moving

—— Philadelphia Inquirer

A novel very much in the tradition of Albert Camus, not only in its humanism and concern with the consequences of individual choices but also in its determination to bear witness to the absurdities of daily life... [A] chilling portrait of fundamentalism run amok and its fallout on ordinary people

—— New York Times

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