Nobel Prize-winning poet and essayist Joseph Brodsky has described Tim Parks as "Frankly, the best British author writing today." While he is primarily a novelist, Parks is also an accomplished short-story writer, literary critic, essayist, travel writer, translator, and teacher. Even if he has not yet achieved the level Brodsky suggests, Parks does appear to be on the verge of becoming a great writer.

Though Parks was born in England, he lives in Verona, Italy, and lectures on literary translation at the Istituto Universitario di Lingue Moderne in Milan. Parks is, however, by no means a writer in exile; he does not appear to yearn for a permanent return to England. His life in Italy is an essential part of his writing, adding to it a richness and extra dimension. Like many expatriates, Parks sees his homeland with an increased objectivity, perhaps even with cynicism. And yet, while...