Unless

Author of Larry's Party" and the Pulitzer Prize winner, "The Stone Diaries." Unless is indeed a novel in praise of "the pleasures of ordinary existence." We are treated to more than one "atomic particle of time," "backlit with fibre-optic gold."

This is Norman Rockwell meets the Dalai Lama. Unless raises "the quotidian," to its rightful place, where the everyday is a constant source of beauty and enlightenment. Finally, Shields is, as they say, at the top of her form, which is quite an elevation. Unless is a very special novel, one definitely not to be missed.