Very much a return to form here, after 2 or 3 not-quite-there novels from one of my favourite novelists Michael Ondaatje. 12 years after the war, the narrator Nathaniel pieces together the events that took place when he was a young man. Unexpectedly abandoned by their parents, 14 year old Nathaniel and his sister are cared for by a series of enigmatic and mysterious characters, who are clearly up to something which he doesn't fully understand. Written with typical Ondaatje lyricism, the reader comes on events obliquely, and it does take some attention to put together the puzzle. It does reward that attention, and it is ultimately a breathtaking achievement, one of his best; a kind-of Ondaatje take on William Boyd's Restless.