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Fiction

Surreal and vertiginous

A dizzying fable of a novel

The Oxenbridge King by Christine Paice

by Rose Lucas
September 2024, no. 468

The Oxenbridge King by Christine Paice

Fourth Estate, $34.99 pb, 346 pp

ABR receives a commission on items purchased through this link. All ABR reviews are fully independent.

There is a great deal going on in Christine Paice’s new novel, The Oxenbridge King. In this narrative, we meet the troubled soul of Richard III (1452-85), unable to find rest, a contemporary young woman who struggles with loss and misjudged relationships, an angel emerging from his chrysalis after being trapped for centuries in the cellar of the family home, and a talking bird that operates as a link between characters, places, times. In what can feel like dreamlike jolts, the parallel immediacies of 500 years ago and today keep warping and collapsing into each other.

 


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The Oxenbridge King by Christine Paice

Fourth Estate, $34.99 pb, 346 pp

ABR receives a commission on items purchased through this link. All ABR reviews are fully independent.


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