I cannot, in all honesty, say I am much of a Julian Barnes’ fan. In fact, the only other book by him I’ve ever bought (‘A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters’ 2009) is still gathering dust somewhere along my bookshelves – unfinished and unloved. There was something about this, though (the title? the book blurb? the front cover?) that grabbed my attention and made me decide to give it a try. I wasn’t disappointed… In its mere 128 pages Barnes explores love and loss by combining three seemingly unrelated genres – historical non-fiction, historical romance and personal memoir. The book is broken down in three parts (Sin of Height- On the Level- Loss of Depth) with the first two feeling a bit disjointed and irrelevant, but ultimately serving as metaphors for life’s diverse highs and lows thus ‘setting the stage’ for Part III: a sad and raw account of grief, over the death of a loved one. In spare but masterful prose, Barnes offers up a testament to the love of his …