Robert Glancy

A gripping and beautifully observed novel of power, corruption and innocence from the author of Terms & ConditionsCharlie, a curious boy with a dangerous Dictaphone habit, eavesdrops on the eccentric guests of the Mirage Hotel, as the African nation of Bwalo prepares for the annual appearance of its Glorious Leader Tafumo. Sean, who’s given his heart (and the best part of his liver) to Bwalo, struggles to write the great African novel – if only his crazed fiancée would stop distracting him. Josef, kingmaker and mythmaker, starts to hear the ominous rattle of skeletons in his closet. Hope, the nurse caring for the King, keeps the old man alive as she mourns her own broken dreams. And storm clouds gather as petty criminal, Jack, smuggles something into Bwalo – to the Mirage Hotel – that will change the lives of all of them for ever…

Frank has been in a car accident*. The doctor tells him he lost his spleen, but Frank believes he has lost more. He is missing memories – of the people around him, of the history they share and of how he came to be in the crash. All he remembers is that he is a lawyer who specialises in small print. But when Oscar, his brother, takes the family company into business with an inventively cruel corporation** and Alice, his wife, starts to seem oddly unlike the woman he remembers, Frank’s world starts to unspool and the terms and conditions that he has lived his life by*** begin to change. *apparently quite a serious one **we can’t tell you what it’s called for legal reasons, but believe us, it’s evil ***and which are rarely in his favour