Paradise lost The Garden of Eden after the expulsion of Adam and Eve is a labour camp ruled over by angels in this fable about freedom

lowing rivers, gorgeous trees, bountiful crops, birds and animals to spare: Jim Crace’s latest novel is set in a lowercase, scrupulously mapped version of the Garden of Eden. There, some time after the expulsion of Adam and Eve, peace of a stilted kind reigns: the few dozen human inhabitants know they can “breathe forever without cares”, but there’s a catch – they must obey the angels. These angels have been created in the form of birds, not so much because of their beauty as for their surveillance skills.