Emma Chapman’s second novel, following the acclaimed How to Be a Good Wife, is told from the point of view of Rook, a photojournalist who cut his teeth during the Vietnam war. Following the death of his wife, his immediate response is to return to the country that shaped both his career and his sense of himself.
It’s an elegantly constructed piece, and Chapman has clearly spent a lot of time researching the novel. It’s almost too elegant at times, though. There’s a remote quality to the writing and it doesn’t entirely avoid the pitfalls of cliche in its depiction of what it was like to go in-country as a journalist before the age of the internet and embedded reporting. It’s more successful in its thoughtful depiction of a man who prefers to look at the world through a viewfinder and its exploration of ageing, memory and time, the hold the past has over us.
The Last Photograph is published by Picador (£14.99). Click here to order a copy for £12.29
