Author(s): Russell Hoban

Fiction

Phil Ockerman falls hard for Bertha Strunk at a tango lesson in a church crypt in Clerkenwell. 'Is Bertha's trunk anything like Pandora's box?' he wonders. Each recently separated, both their Suns are squared by Neptune. Bertha also bears a strong resemblance to the 17th century Venetian singer and composer Barbara Strozzi (with whom Phil happens to be obsessed), to the point where Phil is no longer sure which is which. On their first serious date, Phil and 'Barbara' watch "The Rainmaker", a tale of battered wifery and the murder of an ex-husband. Could it be that Barbara's choice of film is not entirely innocent, especially considering that Phil afterwards finds himself carrying around a potential murder weapon? Navigating several London Underground lines and considerable planetary activity, Russell Hoban's intriguing romance tangos its way through a world of infidelity, artificial eyeballs, baseball bats and music - never missing a daring, seductive step.