In his fourth novel, Murray Bail presents a philosophical mystery. Erica Hazlehurst, philosopher at the University of Sydney is summoned to the office of the head of the department. ‘Philosophy has been called upon.’ The late Wesley Antill, the eldest son of a pastoralist, has bequeathed money in his will for the publication of his work. After crashing philosophy courses as a young man, Wesley decided he wanted to be a philosopher. After many years, he returned to the family property, where he retired to an old shed and began to think and write.

‘Is he a genius in philosophy? We have no idea. That’s where you come in,’ Mr Mannix, the solicitor, tells Erica. And so Erica, taking her psychotherapist friend Sophie along for company, sets off for Antill homestead. Wesley’s sister Lindsey, a ‘practical and sensible woman’, welcomes them quietly, while his brother Roger, the farm manager, is a mysterious and enigmatic figure. Bail draws us to Wesley’s strange and ultimately uneventful life and the incongruous impact it has on the lives of Erica, Sophie, Lindsey and Roger. The Pages is a warm, whimsical tale about life, love and perhaps philosophy from a master tale-spinner.