A little while ago, I found myself smiling at a book that had just arrived in the post. ‘Hello Alex,’ the front cover said. ‘What’s standing between you and success?’ That must be the name of the protagonist. I allowed myself a moment to enjoy the feeling of synchronicity that comes with finding that you share a name with a fictional character. (Imagine, someone writing a book that was really about you, the partially fulfilled promise of all novels, only ever glimpsed through the leaves.) I t...