About this item
In the Absence of Absalon revolves around an unnamed investigator, a set of keys and a townhouse. He is investigating a series of disappearances: of his colleague, Marguerite; of Harold Absalon, the Mayor's transport advisor, whose disappearance Marguerite had been investigating prior to his own disappearance; of Richard Knox, the owner of the townhouse, who had fallen out with Absalon before disappearing; and of Absalon's wife Isobel, who is glimpsed, partially undressed, in an upper storey bedroom as the investigator approaches. Pursued from all sides and seemingly losing his mind, what the investigator discovers, as he enters the house, is both familiar and utterly devastating.
About the Author
Simon Okotie was born in east London to Nigerian/English parents. He lives in Norfolk, UK."In 2012, Simon Okotie published an extraordinary novel, Whatever Happened to Harold Absalon? , in which a detective known only by his surname of Marguerite goes looking for the wife of a man named Harold Absalon." The Guardian"The plot is slight; what makes this novel remarkable is its style. Marguerite is comically meticulous, unable to proceed without parsing the minutiae of the case or his own language... He is rather like Wittgenstein reincarnated as a pedantic private dick. The result is slow-paced but feels charming and fresh; indeed, the only recent comparable fiction would be Will Self's Booker-shortlisted Umbrella... Simon Okotie's book will receive less attention, but it is equally audacious, and in its own, low-key way, just as compelling." Financial TimesIn the Absence of Absalon, a sequel, was published in 2017. It was recently longlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize for fiction from small presses:"The detective story as existential crisis took form with Beckett's Molloy more than 60 years ago; and the concept of the novel as crazed digression was first incarnated in Tristram Shandy, over 250 years ago. Okotie is in very good company - and has also set himself a high bar. He succeeds. Superbly." Nicholas Lezard's choice in The Guardian."A seriously funny novel of great range and depth." The Times Literary Supplement"Delightfully eccentric...brilliantly funny." The Spectator
