Book Review

Forever Home: Finely drawn characters make Norton’s latest a joy from start to finish

While plot is still central to Graham Norton’s latest crime drama, it’s apparent that the most poignant and compelling scenes stem from his gift for creating astute, sympathetic character portrayals

Graham Norton confines himself to tracing the arc of his characters’ inner lives – and Forever Home is the stronger for it. Picture: Getty

Towards the close of the new Graham Norton novel Forever Home, there’s a moment when Norton’s lead character Carol Crottie observes her mother falter. Distracted as she is by other events happening around her, Carol suddenly becomes aware that, while her mother is still fiery, she’s also very mortal. She’s ageing and one day she won’t be around any more – and the thought for Carol is agonising.

It’s that sharpness of character detail and ...