Peace Talks

by Tim Finch

  ‘Another?’

  The barman has appeared. What must he think of me? I smile. Shake my head. He smiles. No doubt there is sadness in his life. I feel most sad for him, for other people, for all the sadness in the world. My heart breaks to think of it. I am so lucky. So lonely.

  I tap my trouser pocket to check I have my key. It is attached to a piece of wood. The name of my apartment has been carved into it.

  I am in Golden Sunset.

  FURTHER READING

  You never liked me recommending books. And I can imagine you saying, Look, I have just finished this one, don’t start telling me what to read next. But books have been referenced – the usual ragbag – and so I am risking it.

  I remember you admitting to me once, years after we first met, that one of the things you most liked about me at the beginning was that I was so bookish. Bookish and good-looking. A man never forgets a thing like that.

  Do you get to read at all? The thought that you certainly don’t is just another thing that breaks my heart.

  Baudelaire, Charles (1821–67), Mon coeur mis à nu (1887)

  Broks, Paul (b. unknown), The Darker the Night, the Brighter the Stars (2018)

  Cioran, E. M. (1911–95), Des larmes et des saints (1937)

  Fukuyama, Francis (1952–), The End of History and the Last Man (1992)

  Hikmet, Nasim (1902–63), 9–10 Poems (1945), translated by Randy Blasing and Mutlu Konuk

  Jenkins, Roy (1920–2003), Gladstone (1995)

  Kravis, Nathan (b. unknown), On the Couch: A Repressed History of the Analytic Couch from Plato to Freud (2017)

  Larkin, Philip (1922–85), ‘Aubade’ (1977), included in Collected Poems (2003)

  Mann, Thomas (1875–1955), Der Zauberberg (1924)

  Montaigne, Michel de (1533–92), Complete Works (2003)

  Ovid or Publius Ovidius Naso (43 BC–AD 17/18), Metamorphoses (circa AD 8)

  Pascal, Blaise (1623–62), Pensées (1669)

  Pinker, Steven (1954–), The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined (2011)

  Proust, Marcel (1871–1922), À la recherche du temps perdu (1913–22)

  Said, Edward (1935–2003), Orientalism (1978)

  Salter, James (1925–2015), Light Years (1975)

  The Noble Quran (609–32)

  Updike, John (1932–2009), Bech at Bay (1968)

  West, Rebecca (1892–1983), Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (1941)

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  I would like to thank my agents at United Agents, Caroline Dawnay and Sophie Scard, for sticking by me and for their frank, encouraging and sound advice over the years.

  Thank you also to Alexandra Pringle at Bloomsbury for taking on Peace Talks so enthusiastically. She, Sara Helen Binney and Allegra Le Fanu have been supportive and helpful in many ways.

  Sarah-Jane Forder was scrupulous with her copy edits and judicious with her comments – and then floored me by adding, right at the end of the manuscript, the most beautiful comment about Peace Talks. I was immensely touched by her thoughtfulness.

  I am a solitary and single-minded writer and generally do not share my work in progress with anyone. However, my partner Claudia did occasionally get called to my desk in order to hear me read a ‘a good bit’ I had just finished. On most occasions, she had the grace to agree with my assessment.

  NOTE ON THE AUTHOR

  Tim Finch is the author of one previous novel, The House of Journalists. He has worked for the BBC, the think tank IPPR and the Refugee Council. He lives in London.

  @timaafinch

  http://timfinch.info

  BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING

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  BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  First published in Great Britain 2020

  This electronic edition published in 2020 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  Copyright © Tim Finch, 2020

  Tim Finch has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work

  Sincere thanks to agent Jenni Ferrari-Adler, editor Allison Lorentzen, editorial assistant Norma Barksdale, horticulturalist Michael Gordon, chemistry adviser Mika Efros, and first readers John Knight, Jenny Slate, Michael Clark, Laura Bennett, Liz Fusco, Julia Pierpont, Julie Buntin, Rachel Rose, Henry Walters

  Extract from The Book of Lieder by Richard Stokes copyright © 2005 by Richard Stokes. Reprinted by permission of Faber and Faber Ltd

  Extracts from ‘Aubade’ from The Complete Poems by Philip Larkin copyright © by Philip Larkin. Reprinted by permission of Faber and Faber Ltd

  Extract from The Black Lamb and The Grey Falcon by Rebecca West copyright © 1940, 1941 by Rebecca West. Reprinted by permission of Canongate Books Ltd

  For legal purposes the Further Reading on pp. here constitute an extension of this copyright page

  This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organisations or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real

  All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

  ISBN: HB: 978-1-5266-1169-7

  TPB: 978-1-5266-1172-7

  eBook: 978-1-5266-1170-3

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