What really lies behind choices and actions? Volume Three of the 'Casus' series offers four sensitively drawn perspectives which probe the extent free will actually is. Retired academic Stephen Fitzsimmons returns to the 'Albergo del Senato', on his last visit to Rome. He meets Ella, in the eternal city to celebrate her twentieth birthday. Neither foresees the redeeming consequences of their chance encounter. Paul Palkowitz is writing a book about being successful. He's bought an art deco villa overlooking the Mediterranean, at 'Beaulieu-sur-Mer'. He's divorced, but now he's met Agnes. He must be happy, surely? The real 'Charlie Collins' lives in the memory of those who knew him; but memories fade. While she still can, Diana poignantly recalls the experiences that led inexorably to a crisp June morning. Few works of literature have polarised opinions like 'Ulysses'. Here is a deferential parody: a whimsical, whirlwind recounting of Joyce's life before the appearance of his epic novel.
