Late one night, Arthur, or Q as he is more commonly known, a middle-aged “quantum cryptographer” employed by the British government to handle technological disasters, is startled by a knock at the door. Standing there is a man wearing a cape and a fedora who recites a poem prophesying the coming apocalypse and Q’s instrumental role in the new dawn that will follow. Apparently, Q is one of the chosen ones. Troubled but unsurprised, he returns to his armchair, furrows his brow, steeples his fingers, and sets to wondering “whether there was any point in doing anything”.
This opening scene pretty well sets the tone for what follows. Light Over Liskeard is an unhurried, whimsical, slightly grouchy and often surreal novel about the end of the world. Long-term readers of Louis de Bernières may come prepared. In a career that began with a magic realism-inspired Latin American trilogy, took off with the historical romance Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, and has gone down such byways as Red Dog, a rather heartwarming tale of an Australian sheepdog, and Notwithstanding, a collection of determinedly eccentric stories of English village life, De Bernières has shown himself to be full of surprises, conjuring narratives of considerable charm and impressive sweep.
