Guilty

Publication Announcement

Peter Owen Publishers are proud to announce the publication of a previously unpublished novel.

Setting and Narration

Set in an unspecified but eerily familiar time and landscape, Guilty is narrated by Mark. He begins the novel as a young boy whose father has just returned from war.

Plot Overview

In spite of being garlanded as a hero, Mark's father declares himself a pacifist and is immediately reviled in a country still suffering from the divisions of war. When his father is forced into exile, Mark meets Mr Spector, a shady figure who from then on is a dominant force in Mark's life, seeing him through his schooling, employment, and even finding him accommodation.

When Mark tries to break off with Mr Spector in order to pursue an engagement with the beautiful but docile Carla, his life begins to unravel. Thwarted at every turn by a Kafkaesque bureaucracy, he begins to fall prey to the machinations and insecurities of his guilt-ridden mind.