Set in contemporary Venice, Tel Aviv, Munich, London and rural Wales, Adrian Mourby’s new novel is a compelling examination of paternity, genius and the potency of the written word. The chance discovery of a letter sets journalist Bill Wheeler off on an investigation into the dark world of Richard Wagner, opera’s greatest composer and the man whom Nietszche described as a ’sickness’. As he delves deeper into meanings lying hidden within this random letter, Bill is forced to re-examine his relationship with his beloved daughter Reah, his ex-wife Tamsin, and Libby Zeigler, the American academic who hastened the disintegration of his marriage seven years before.

Despite the darkness and violence that Wishdaughter uncovers this is, finally, a redemptive novel about the need in all of us to come to terms with the past before we can move on.