When I Was Otherwise

Stephen Benatar's extraordinary novel opens with the macabre discovery of two dead women - one of them a skeleton - in a North London house. When I was Otherwise, written largely in dialogue, but also graced by passages of quietly witty narration, tells the stories of three main characters - Dan, unassuming, straightforward, kind-hearted but naive, Marsha, who clumsily attempts the roles of coquette and model wife with equal tragi-comic results, and Daisy, whose witty, waspish, overwhelming character is belied by a failure to construct an emotionally or practically rewarding life. The novel both teases and involves the reader as it makes chronological jumps to unravel the twisted skein of relationships between the three protagonists, making the book an engaging puzzle as well as a compelling read.