The Dark Flood Rises

Francesca Stubbs holds our hand as we take a walk through death and old age. Fran takes us to drinks with her dear friends, dropping off mouth-watering suppers for Claude, her ex-husband, warm and cozy in his infirmity, and visits her daughter, Poppet, holed up as the waters rise in a sodden West Country, as well as texting her son Christopher in Tenerife, dealing with the estate of his shockingly deceased girlfriend. The questions of what constitutes a good death and how we understand it if we have lived well preoccupy this dark and glittering novel. With characteristic wit and caustic prose via some festive red merlot, The Dark Flood Rises dazzles and enthralls, entertains, and asks existential questions in equal measure.