Absence

British writer Quincy debuts with an elegiac narrative that dips into the lives of characters the 30-year-old narrator encounters in Oxford, where he’s returned to care for his ailing mother. While out running errands, the unnamed narrator bumps into his former teacher, Iain Rothlan, whom he greatly admired and hasn’t seen in many years, since Iain’s sudden and unexplained departure from the school. The narrator accepts an invitation to dinner with Iain and Iain’s professor friend, Gilles, and enjoys catching up. Soon after, Gilles finds Iain dead by suicide. Later, Gilles hands the narrator a letter from Iain to a former classmate of the narrator’s, which reveals the tragic details of Iain’s life. The novel’s other stories of withdrawn, troubled individuals in the narrator’s life also follow sad trajectories. Among them are the narrator’s godfather, described as “sitting on the edge of oblivion,” and the narrator’s “estranged and reclusive” former landlord. Throughout, Quincy beautifully explores the ways in which his characters are affected by resurfaced memories, as when the narrator, caring for his mother, remembers how she used to read Oscar Wilde’s poem “The Ballad of Reading Gaol” to him as a boy. Readers of W.G. Sebald will find much to enjoy. Agent: Tucker Smith, Wylie Agency. (July)