The NerveOne August bank holiday, Ted Johnson wakes to a day of reckoning with his past in Cumberland, his present in London and his fantasies. An inflamed nerve troubles his eye as he veers between elation and despair, overwhelmed by the noise and bustle of the streets, unable to connect even with a visiting girlfriend. Written in 1971, Melvyn Bragg's sixth novel draws a remarkable portrait of a man's courageous fight to keep his mental balance and regain a

One stands for Nature the belief that everything is stamped in flesh from the start

It was unlikely that these heroes should meet in the first place

she paints a tiny yellow dot surrounded by swirling black

But other peoples recollections are dangerous weapons to play with

But you can't run forever

when everything else is falling apart

She expects a welcome from the King considering her earlier

and her mother and sister are drinking too much

THE GRACE OF KINGS is the debut novel by Hugo-

REVELATION OR DEVASTATION

the son of a rickshaw-puller

this held me in its thrall from beginning to end