One afternoon in early January, the weather showed a lack of character. There was no frost nor wind: the trees in the garden did not stir. " Within the house moved a woman, the strangely fascinating Mrs. Mary: without, a black and white cat stalked the pigeon known as X. The characters G, S, and C watched from various outbuildings. Others watched them and yet others watched those watchers. An enigmatic engraving hung in each outbuilding and as the early dusk fell C gazed at a representation of two snakes, each swallowing the other's tail.
Brian Aldiss's new novel, a tense and engrossing study of relative phenomena,is a dazzling tour-de-force in which his wit, intelligence and invention are displayed at full stretch.