Former diplomat, Derek Bradley, returns to his memories when he visits the old home of his friend Vincent Austin. Vincent has stored his highly detailed diaries there and instructed his aunt to give Derek access to them. As Derek reads through the diaries he discovers things about Vincent that he has had only an inkling of; over the years their lives have intersected but there have been things that Vincent has kept concealed and as Derek reads the diaries the pieces and his memories fit together. Vincent’s obsession with secrets was shared by his enigmatic friend Erika Lange, who later became Derek’s lover when the three of them found themselves many years later in Beijing at the height of the cold war. It was here that Vincent revealed to Derek that during their university days he had been recruited by ASIS – the Australian espionage agency. The Memory Room is an engrossing story, rich in detail and characterisation and highly politically charged; it’s criticism of the naiveté of the left has lessons for us today, and as a story it’s as gripping as any Le Carre – certainly one of the major works of fiction this year.

Mark Rubbo is Managing Director of Readings