Shrike

Brett Stokes is already middle-aged and yet feels that his life has not begun. In an attempt to make sense of his existence he travels to the provincial town of Ôtani in Japan, hoping that, through his writing, he will obtain the insight that he lacks. But in Japan it is late autumn and, closeted within the garden of the lately widowed Mrs Kunisada, Stokes finds the motleycollection of arboreal reds and yellows working upon his imagination, until reality itself becomes spectral.As the strange season unfolds, and Stokes meditates upon the meaning of life, death and literature, thepower of the Shrike gradually takes centre-stage.In this startling novella Quentin S. Crisp fuses delicacy with darkness and pathos with terror, creatinga blend of Japanese and English literature that is as deeply moving as it is unique.