Sufferance by Charles Palliser review – a well-crafted, slow-burning novel

The Quincunx author’s sixth book, the story of a family in crisis in an authoritarian regime, is exquisitely plotted and satisfying

For readers of a certain age, Charles Palliser’s name is so deeply associated with his massive debut novel, The Quincunx, a literary mystery that was on every bedside table in the 1990s, that you would be forgiven for not knowing about his later work. Now he has published his sixth novel, Sufferance, which is his first book in more than a decade and only his second since the turn of the millennium.

The publication is good timing: Palliser’s novel shares some superficial similarities with last year’s Booker winner, Prophet Song – a family in crisis navigating an authoritarian regime – but is a more well developed and satisfying work. The slow escalation of pressure on its characters up to an extraordinary ending – all in 200 pages – shows the hand of an expert novelist.

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