Clue to the Exit - Paperback

by Edward St Aubyn (Author)

A beautifully modulated novel that shows Edward St. Aubyn at his sparkling best

Charlie Fairburn, successful screenwriter, ex-husband, and absent father, has been given six months to live. He resolves to stake half his fortune on a couple of turns of the roulette wheel and, to his agent's disgust, to write a novel-about death. In the casino he meets his muse. Charlie grows as addicted to writing fiction as she is to gambling.

His novel is set on a train and involves a group of characters (familiar to readers of St. Aubyn's earlier work) who are locked in a debate about the nature of consciousness. As this train gets stuck at Didcot, and Charlie gets more passionately entangled with the dangerous Angelique, A Clue to the Exit comes to its startling climax. Exquisitely crafted, witty, and thoughtful, Edward St. Aubyn's dazzling novel probes the very heart of being.

Front Jacket

Charlie Fairburn, successful screenwriter of "Aliens with a Human Heart, ex-husband and absent father, has been given six months to live. He resolves to stake half his fortune on a couple of turns of the roulette wheel and, to his agent's disgust, to write a novel - about death. Set on a train, it involves a group of characters locked in a debate about the nature of consciousness. As the train gets stuck at Didcot Junction, Charlie becomes more passionately entangled with the dangerous young woman who is his nemesis.

Author Biography

EDWARD ST. AUBYN was born in London in 1960. He is the author of Lost for Words, On the Edge and The Patrick Melrose Novels: Never Mind, Bad News, Some Hope, and Mothers Milk. His final Patrick Melrose novel is the standalone At Last. Mother's Milk was shortlisted for the Booker Prize