The Other Jack

A book about books, mostly ... and bonfires, clichés, dystopias, failure, happiness, jokes, justice, privilege, publishing, rejection, self-loathing, shoplifting and umbrellas. *My granny used to say, when she saw me getting teary over a film we were watching on TV, ‘It’s only a story.’ When Robyn’s bike was stolen and I offered sympathy, she responded, ‘It’s only money.’ A woman once said to me, grinning from ear to ear, ‘It’s only sex.’ To someone despairing of the judges’ decision, I want to say, ‘It’s only a book.’ But it is never only anything.* Writer and reader meet in cafés to talk about books – that’s the plot. There are arguments, spilt coffee, deaths both in life and in fiction, and rain and laughter.