SOURCE: “A Good Baker's Dozen,” in Spectator, January 2, 1999, pp. 30–31.

In the following review of Adultery and Other Diversions, Rouse recommends the collection for readers already familiar with Parks's writing, but suggests that newcomers to his work should start with Europa.

Tim Parks is a writer who has earned our careful attention. He is the author of two successful books on his life in Verona, has translated Italo Calvino and has done a couple of thrillers. His latest novel, Europa, was on the Booker short-list. He could clearly, if he chose, write an epic poem, a history, the Chancellor's next budget speech, pretty well anything.

So what is he up to now? He tells us in a prefatory note [to Adultery and Other Diversions]:

My hope when I began work on these odd hybrids was … to dramatise an intimate relation between reflections that are timeless and the ongoing stories...