Switzy

A mesmerising portrait of an unravelling mind, and an ageing man on his final pilgrimage – to Switzerland – from the Sunday Times-bestselling author of The Girls and The Guest

It was sometimes like looking at the kindling for a life, a meticulously laid fire that was cold, unlit. The possibility was there, the elements properly arranged, but he couldn’t remember how to make it.

After a lifetime working in corporate finance, David Hastings is flying to Switzerland – or Switzy, as they all call it – in a private plane belonging to a former business associate. His memory has started playing tricks on him, and his assistant is behaving suspiciously. In a small leather-bound notebook, he keeps a record of his itinerary: LONDON, TWO DAYS. THREE DAYS ZURICH, COLD. In London, he will attempt to say goodbye to his daughter, Rebecca, but he barely knows her these days. In Zurich is a car that will take him across the border to visit Tom, an old schoolfriend who won’t return David’s letters but lingers in his thoughts. And, finally, the clinic.

Profoundly moving and darkly humorous, Switzy probes the depths of human consciousness, revealing what a man is left with when both the accomplishments – and illusions – that have defined him have vanished.