An elegant skewering of the beautiful and the damned

Death, psychosis, apocalypse — it’s a strong mixture for a novel. In the hands of a writer less capable than Edward St Aubyn, it would probably add up to a fatal dose for a book that you were actually hoping to read and enjoy.

- Robbie Smith

Happily, St Aubyn — the author of the Patrick Melrose novels, including the Booker-shortlisted Mother's Milk, and the brilliant satire Lost for Words — is more skilful than most. His new book, Parallel Lines, revolves around the twin stories of Olivia and Sebastian, one a radio producer facing challenges and complications in her personal life, the other recovering from a severe mental breakdown.

Sebastian's mind, especially in the early stages of his recovery, makes for bracing reading. Thinking about bullet trains sends him into a mental spin as he imagines their speed tearing a hole in the fabric of the universe: "Then he wished he had wheels and brakes, facts and figures, wished he had the buffers of a destination to terminate the train before the train terminated him".

While Sebastian and his therapist attempt to grapple with his capacity to chain thoughts together in one long rush of overwhelming cogitation, Olivia is trying to get her career back on track. She’s also struggling with the reality of having left London for a village: “She knew now that country life was really all about being on the road, with only a slim chance of fitting in a walk after dealing with the logistics of survival.” On top of that, she must face her best friend Lucy’s catastrophic diagnosis — and deal with the absences of her husband Francis, as he tries to rewild the world.

Middle-class foibles