THE PORPOISE

by Mark Haddon

(Chatto £18.99, 336 pp) Mark Haddon’s beguiling yet unsettling take on shakespeare’s Pericles begins in the modern world — with a plane crash — then drifts into the fantastical, where ancient enchantments weave their spell over mythical figures.

Baby angelica is the sole survivor of the crash, and her billionaire father Philippe raises her in splendid isolation, while also sexually abusing her.

Hope of rescue comes in the shape of the dashing darius, a rich young acquaintance of her father’s. But he’s scared off by Philippe’s minder. Escaping on a friend’s boat, darius is transformed into the Prince of tyre, sailing on the seas of ancient times. He heads into battle, with pirates, ghosts and bewitching princesses.

Meanwhile, angelica’s grip on life becomes increasingly tenuous as she casts herself adrift from the bleak realities of her existence, dreaming herself a new destiny.