
Cast in Doubt
Lynne Tillman(Author)
Peninsula Press Ltd
Will be published approx. on 10. September 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
288 pages
978-1-913512-95-8 (ISBN)
Description
'Like Helen I kept a diary when I was young. It was nothing like Helen's. I tried faithfully to record the events of the day, to describe what I was reading and thinking and to scrutinize and explicate my reactions and so on. She does little or none of this.'
It is 1974. American and English expatriates, artists, writers, and eccentrics find their home in a quiet town on the island of Crete. Among them is Horace Vaughn, a sixty-five-year-old gay American writer who wants to write the Great American Novel, Household Gods, and who in the meantime supports himself by dashing off detective stories.
Horace's young Greek lover often annoys him, provides little satisfaction, and Horace idles his time away with alcohol, friends, and machinations.
That is, until a young, enigmatic nineteen-year-old American woman named Helen arrives, another outsider. In Helen, Horace discovers someone brilliant, beautiful, and stubbornly mysterious. He is fascinated by her punk style and elusive pose. In this small town, gossip spreads fast, and Helen's past begins to follow her to Crete: a suicidal ex-lover appears without warning, and there are whispers of her long-dead sister. The Henry Moore crowd dislike her, and a Greek waiter's wife threatens to murder her.
When Helen vanishes, Horace is determined to follow her, to find her, especially her diary. His journey around Crete in his beat-up VW bug is funny and poignant, and for Horace, the mystery continues.
It is 1974. American and English expatriates, artists, writers, and eccentrics find their home in a quiet town on the island of Crete. Among them is Horace Vaughn, a sixty-five-year-old gay American writer who wants to write the Great American Novel, Household Gods, and who in the meantime supports himself by dashing off detective stories.
Horace's young Greek lover often annoys him, provides little satisfaction, and Horace idles his time away with alcohol, friends, and machinations.
That is, until a young, enigmatic nineteen-year-old American woman named Helen arrives, another outsider. In Helen, Horace discovers someone brilliant, beautiful, and stubbornly mysterious. He is fascinated by her punk style and elusive pose. In this small town, gossip spreads fast, and Helen's past begins to follow her to Crete: a suicidal ex-lover appears without warning, and there are whispers of her long-dead sister. The Henry Moore crowd dislike her, and a Greek waiter's wife threatens to murder her.
When Helen vanishes, Horace is determined to follow her, to find her, especially her diary. His journey around Crete in his beat-up VW bug is funny and poignant, and for Horace, the mystery continues.
Reviews / Votes
'Lynne Tillman possesses the independence of spirit we see in the formal inventor, and the fearlessness of one who speaks out as she is moved to speak out.' Lydia Davis'A true force in American literature.' George Saunders
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-913512-95-8 (9781913512958)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
LYNNE TILLMAN is a novelist, and cultural critic, twice finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award. Tillman is the recipient of a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship and an Andy Warhol/Creative Capital Arts Writing Fellowship.