...left you cold?

I’VE always had great difficulty with Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights: all those needless, confusing (and implausible) layers of narrative one on top of the other; not to mention the heightened, almost hysterical tone. Whereas I consider her sister Charlotte’s Jane Eyre a great masterpiece.

Other classics I’ve quailed at over the years include Moby-Dick and Tristram Shandy. As for living writers...no, I’m afraid the rule of omerta operates.

ElizabEth FiNCh by Julian barnes is published in hardback by Jonathan Cape at £16.99.