This is Thomson's first, and I think his best work. That's probably not what a writer wants to hear, and don't get me wrong, he's written some great books, but this one just worked on a different level. Thomson is all about creating a parallel world, recognisable, in many ways as mundane and confused at the real one, but always with a few nice, weird differences. In Dreams of Leaving, he creates this little village in Sussex ( I spent a lot of the book looking for clues exactly where it was, 'cos it was pretty damn close to Lewes, my home town) where the inhabitants are powerless to leave, living under the control of insane police chief Peach. Moses, the hero, was smuggled out as a baby by his parents, and the book is his journey to find the truth behind his strange history. As with all Thomson's writing, the beauty is in his exquisite descriptions; whether its the natural world or the urban shit-scape, he nails it every time.
