Nearly ten years ago Jeanette Winterson wrote a brilliant book-"The Passion". Ever since, she's completely lost the plot. Is the language beautiful? Yes, but after you've read her other books it fails to dazzle as much. This one is about 3 nameless characters on a train, running away from their miserable existences and you'll probably need to read it twice to figure out what the whole thing's about. Basically i think she's trying to say : The modern world is rubbish, and art (supposedly this book counts) ought to rule. All very tiresome, a bit naive, and exceedingly pretentious. Go read something by Calvino, Kundera or Marquez instead .Whatever you do, don't buy this one. If you must, borrow it from the library.