The Accident on the A35

Product Information

If this closure impacts on your planned route, please allow extra journey time. Plan ahead, you may wish to re-route or even delay your journey. Neither Barthelme’s widow Lucette – younger than Gorski expects – nor his 16-year-old son Raymond seem moved by the news, which Gorski delivers in person on account of the man’s social standing. Lucette even seems to be flirting, discussing her sleeping arrangements – Gorski’s eyes straying here, his wife having walked out on him with their teenage daughter. Mme Barthelme—alluring and apparently unmoved by the news—has a single question: where was her husband on the night of the accident? The answer might change nothing, but it could change everything. And Gorski sets a course for what can only be a painful truth. Graeme Macrae Burnet has written a book purported to be a translation of a manuscript (one of two) sent to a publisher by fictional writer, Raymond Burnet after he committed suicide. The novel is a literary mystery in the classic French style of Georges Simenon, creator of fictional French detective Jules Maigret. Although, I haven't read any of Simenon's books I have seen the TV series Maigret based on the books and can see that the this novel captures the shadowy detective and the dark, smoky scenes in cafes and nightclubs of Maigret's world. The two adults - both in their 30s - were also taken to hospital but their injuries are not believed to be serious.

In conclusion I was impressed by Graeme Macrea Burnet's skills as a writer and reading this novel has reinforced the high opinion I formed of him when reading His Bloody Project; he has intrigued and inspired me to read The Disappearance of Adele Bedeau. I can't envision another Gorski as he will likely be found dead of alcoholism with only his mother to care since he is minus his wife and home. Road users travelling eastbound are advised to follow the Solid Diamond diversion symbol on road signs via the B3162 through Bridport and re-join the A35 at the roundabout with the A35/B3162/A3066.

A35

The novel is character-based, exploring the emotional journeys of a rebellious and troubled teen who is just beginning to discover who he really is and what he really wants (with echoes of Albert Camus’ The Stranger)…a shy and lovely widow whose marriage has been a sham for many years…a seasoned detective who has been living parallel lives with his wife…and a woman in the Alsace town of Strasbourg who may possibly hold the key to what really happened. The proprietor carefully placed a bottle on a paper doily in front of him. Then he lit a cigarette himself. Usually in such a situation, the proprietor of a bar will busy himself with some menial task- polishing glasses or wiping down surfaces - so that his customer does not feel self conscious about drinking alone. Or he will feel the need to offer some banal remarks. But the proprietor of the cafe on the corner of Rue Saint-Fiacre did neither of these things. He simply stood behind the counter, watching Gorski with a placid expression.” I read straight through its small-printed chapters of a defeated, mildly miserable detective and an even more defeated, miserable teenage boy; wandered through the bleak compromised labyrinth Burnet had built for them; and then… Well, there is no then. There's only a translator's afterword that is even funnier than the foreword. The driver of the Land Rover - a woman in her 50s from the Tooting area of London - was taken to Dorchester Hospital. Police say her injuries are not believed to be life-threatening. A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire Police said: "Three people have died following a three-vehicle crash near Stamford.

A spokesperson for Dorset Police said: "The road has been closed between the Symondsbury and Crown roundabouts and these closures are expected to remain in place for some time. We would advise motorists to seek alternative routes while these closures are in place. I did love the first Gorski and this one took some more than strange detours leaving me as an uninterested observer in the end. Sad to anticipate reading a book with such glee and then have the balloon popped.Now the whole novel is seen as a real life description linked in to the memory of Raymond Brunet who is narrating his own experiences through the character of Raymond Barthelme. As the reader we are considering the macrocosm of Graeme Macrae Burnet, the overall author, manipulating the characters of Raymond Brunet, the sub author, and the smaller characters of George Gorski and Raymond Brunet. I find this an extremely intelligent device to add depth and emotion to the novel. Notice the spelling of the real author Burnet and the spelling of the fictitious author Brunet. When I first glanced at my copy of the book I thought that there had been a typographical error at the editing stage, until it was pointed out by my husband that there was a spelling differentiation and that the similarity was intentional. Here the reality and the fiction is blurred. Had Graeme Macrae Burnet not made last year’s Booker shortlist with his previous novel, His Bloody Project, you probably wouldn’t be reading this review: it wouldn’t exist. After all, Burnet’s Maigret-influenced debut, The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau, went unnoticed outside his native Scotland. But the enterprise of his publisher Saraband (once of Glasgow, now based in Salford), the wisdom of the 2016 panel – and the quality of His Bloody Project, about a crofter’s son bound for the gallows after a triple murder to which he has confessed guilt but not motive – have won Burnet a keen audience for his next move. Gorski, led on by the dead man's wife, who does not believe that her husband's death was an accident, travels to a neighboring town to try and find answers about the actual cause of Barthelme's death. It appears that Barthelme had lied about his whereabouts on the night of his death. I have still yet to read His Bloody Project (2015), Graeme Macrae Burnet's other book, which many people have told me is marvellous. I'll be putting that right very soon.