Non-return

Politics of the workplace, tricks played by memory, distortions of power, and the significance of protest are examined in this sumptuous and provocative novel/biography from a leading left-of-center cultural critic. Set in the political landscape of 1980s Britain, the story shows how the personal merges with the political as a seaman, having survived for five days in the Atlantic Ocean as his shipmates drown, withdraws from life to the consolation of his allotment; his wife dies as a resident of the Greenham Common peace camp; and his son, the narrator, becomes a draughtsman although he longs to be a poet.

Poet, novelist and critis, Dai Vaughan was, for more than thirty-five years, one of the foremost documentary film editors in Britain, author of the seminal book 'For Documentary' (University of California). His previous novels include 'Moritur', 'Germs', 'The Cloud Chamber' and 'Totes Meer'. He lives in London.