Squaring the Circle

by Richard Bell

BRIAN AND ELLEN TROCKEN are re-evaluating. Having it all might not be the square in the game of life that they thought it was. They embark upon parenthood in the belief that it will enrich the square upon which they happen to have landed. It's 1989 and terrible things are happening in China. Hugo is born and things start happening at home. Brian loses his job and becomes a bewildered full time dad. He makes the alluring acquaintance of two women, the first of whom may be linked to the subsequent murder of his former boss, while the second may cause him to learn so much more about Hugo. Then, from the ale glass familiarity of his village, he journeys to Beijing to find out whether good things can be fashioned from failure, infidelity and close ties with whatever it was that lead to his former boss's untimely demise. With the rest of his life to fight for and not a pugilistic bone in his body he gives it his best shot, completely unaware that it may well have been someone else's which produced Hugo. Unaware, in fact, of whether the nine days of which his story is comprised is spewed out of chaos or composed of order. Squaring the Circle is a story about an ordinary man trying to make sense of extraordinary and disturbing things which ought to have no place in the quiet square of his existence. The question is whether (in all the humour, sadness, religion, indignation and whatever else it takes to complete the human cocktail), he can grasp the geometry.

274 pages, Paperback

First published May 31, 2012