Author(s): Julian Barnes

Fiction

Reviewed by Sally Another book I could not put down this year. The Only Story is, of course, about love - the pivot point of Paul's life. Now elderly and alone, with a vast and difficult bank of memories - Paul recollects his tragic love affair with Susan, 27 years his senior. If you've read Barnes before, you know what a meticulous writer he is. Exploring the sexual revolution and changing domestic mores, this unusual and difficult love story is woven with the finest thread and is a real treat to read. "Most of us have only one story to tell. I don't mean that only one thing happens to us in our lives: there are countless events, which we turn into countless stories. But there's only one that matters, only one finally worth telling. This is mine."