It all starts with a chance remark on the telephone, just a casual conversation on a normal working day. But it leads Eleanor Hamilton to an appalling and deeply disturbing discovery: John, her husband of twenty years, has been leading a double life - a life of unbelievable duplicity. Feelings of jealousy, anger and confusion follow, all-consuming and shocking, driving Eleanor to extraordinary limits. Only one thing is clear: she wants revenge, for the mockery John has made of her existence and for the happiness and fulfilment that she has missed because of his betrayal. Then fate intervenes in the shape of a terrible accident. Ironically, the tragedy sows the seeds for an unexpected love affair, while at the same time the tables are turned against John as he awaits deliverance and Eleanor bides her time. The question is, will either of their prayers be answered, and if so, how? Both sinister and sympathetic, artfully written and powerfully conveyed, The Question is an impressive and original novel which, following her acclaimed first novel The Longing, confirms Jane Asher's reputation as an intelligent, sensitive and talented writer.

Fiction