Patricia Gallimore

Paranormal novelist Gideon Harlax is drawn into a battle between the forces of good, represented by alien angel Helith, and the forces of evil, represented by Helith's evil brother Asrael. Ranging from Oxford to Denmark, a North Sea ferry to an alien planet, Harlax unwittingly becomes part of an ancient plot that may result in the destruction of Earth...

'When I was your age I wanted to go to Italy more than anything in the world ... old buildings .. , sunlight. Blue skies ... the air full of the sound of bells in the morning and at dusk.' A mother, waiting for a visit through a hospital day, looks back on her life. Dreams haunt her, fantasies seduce her, memories crowd in on her, distorting the drab reality of her day to day existence. Must her daughter follow in her footsteps? How can she find a way to guide her towards a brighter future?

"These Indian films. They're done to a formula - songs, dance, routines and a lot of sentimental heavy breathing." When her 17-year-old son Roy falls in love with a Muslim girl, and a Bangladeshi butcher seeks help from her husband Raji, Leela realises that the tears and romance of Indian cinema are closer to her own life than she has ever imagined.