Pollard stream of flowing commentary was quite brilliant. She explores past, present and future with an emphasis on divination, all types and methods and further more examines our need for it. Why we need to know, to feel safe. Why we've replaced religion with social media with it's constant attention and instructions. Although we might complain of big brother watching us, do we secretly love having someone watching us - selfie anyone?

“I am sick of the future. Up to here with the future. I don’t want anything to do with it; don’t want it near me” My thanks to Penguin Group U.K. Fig Tree for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Delphi’ by Clare Pollard. It was originally published in July 2022 with paperback released in April. The narrator of this novel is a university classics lecturer who in 2020 is undertaking research for a book about prophecy in the ancient world. Indeed, the chapter titles each reference a different type of divination with a brief description of each. Of course, as it is early 2020 the pandemic is about to create challenges for the characters as they seek to navigate the tightening grip of lockdown. Add to this her marriage is in crisis and her ten-year-old son seems more and more unreachable. As a result, she becomes increasingly fixated on forms of divination and prediction: consulting online psychics, tea leaves, tarot cards, the I Ching and the like seeking to make bargains to ensure her future. She also comments on key events including the USA general election (“Apollo says / I say: a leader will lose but refuse to leave.”). I felt that ‘Delphi’ was a witty, philosophical take on the Covid-19 pandemic told from the perspective of its narrator within the context of references to divination, the classics, and Greek mythology. Clare Pollard has a crisp, economic writing style and despite the novel’s modest length she manages to include details of many kinds of divination, responses to the pandemic, and its protagonist’s experiences as she seeks to reconnect to her husband and son. Overall, I found ‘Delphi’ a gem of a novel - intelligent and well written, combining drama and comedy with a sense of the timeless as well as a snapshot of a certain point in recent world history. I feel that it is the kind of novel that will likely appeal to reading groups as it’s a quick, engaging read and offers plenty of scope for discussion.