I enjoyed reading this book. The first person narrator of Corley Roper is both a limitation and a freedom - we are privy to his internal meanderings, but at the same time are only able to see events from his point of view. Roper is a famous children's author, but the death of his daughter has left him suffering from writer's block.Roper's chance meeting with Mary Wilson is the catalyst for the plot. Both are mourning their lost children and Roper seems to feel that this brings them together. It also becomes clear that both are having difficulties in their marriages. Roper's wife has banished him to the garden shed and is currently only able to communicate with him by means of a stuffed toy (inspiration for one of Roper's characters).Mary Wilson is something of a mystery and Roper's efforts to first trace her and later find out more about her form the main portion of the plot. He travels the country by horse-drawn caravan with his friend Jessop in his determination to learn more.I have already recommended this novel to a friend and would do so again. Despite its somewhat slow-moving narrative, I found the story engaging and the characters sympathetic.Waterstone's Book Circle

This is the story of successful children's author Corley Roper who embarks on an unusual quest on behalf of a grieving stranger as he tries to come to terms with the death of his baby girl. The subtitle 'a novel of mystery' is rather misleading: yes this is a novel of discovery but it is hardly a great mystery as the subtitle would imply. This is slow to get going and the characters too superficially drawn to ignite sympathy or an interest in their fate. With little interest in the plot that is too slow-paced for a 'novel of mystery' I would have liked to know more about some of the supporting characters such as the American journalist Alice Dangerfield. The naïve narrator Roper is vaguely reminiscent of the butler in Ishiguro's Remains of the Day, yet Wilson fails to capitalise on this and, despite the subject matter, the novel failed to move me. Set in the early 20th century, I would have expected more historical context but such detail is very sketchy presumably to make the story seem timeless. I kept waiting for 'Consolation' to move up a gear or for a twist in the tale but unfortunately neither happened. 'Consolation' left me thinking I must have missed something. Waterstone's cardholder