Lady Jean

Book excerpt: Jean Barrie is an enormously successful, award-winning singer who spends her time in self-imposed retreat in her huge, dark St. John's Wood home. Here she wanders around the empty rooms drinking gin and vodka. Upstairs in the attic lives her mysterious lodger, The Fallen Nun. Beyond the house, Jean's narrow world is inhabited by her octogenarian Aunt Dizzy, who smokes hand-rolled cigars, wears blood-red hot pants, and gave up aerobics at 79; Jean's best friend Freida—the self-styled Devils Dyke; and Christopher—a 17-year-old with a Bible-bashing mother and a passion for his Uncle Fergus—who tends the garden and cleans the house. But Jean's solitude is about to be invaded: the house rapidly becomes a haven for eccentric souls drawn to her by chance or design, and sudden death and revelations of past horrors dart in from unexpected directions. A satisfying gem of offbeat humor with dark tragedy, Lady Jean is Virtue at his best, as he skillfully weaves his narrative into a unique tapestry. A romantic novel from one of New Zealand's most revered writers.