Thubron, Colin

(British, 1939– )

Thubron was born in London and educated at Eton. He was a film-maker before becoming a full-time author in 1965. Begin with A Cruel Madness (1984), in which a member of staff in a mental hospital meets a former girlfriend who is a long-term patient. A painful re-engagement with the past ensues. In Falling (1989) a journalist in prison tells the story of his love for a circus performer, whom he assists in dying after she is chronically disabled by a trapeze accident. Turning Back the Sun (1991) is set in a town on the edge of an African desert where a European doctor feels a growing sense of exile. Drought and disease force him to choose between leaving or remaining with the woman he loves. Thubron's books as a leading travel writer include Jerusalem (1969) and Among the Russians (1983).

Paul Theroux, Michael Ondaatje, Robert McCrum  DH