Stuttering through the language of love

Beginner’s Greek. By James Collins, Fourth Estate, €19

Romantic novels have had something ofa bad press in recent years and, if we’re honest, many of us would be far too embarrassed to be caught reading one on the bus. With Beginner’s Greek, James Collins attempts to rehabilitate the genre through clever plotting and above average writing.

He succeeds to an extent, but reading this novel can be a frustrating experience, not least because ...