A really original plot covers intelligence work during World War Two. A small, perhaps independent group has a particular brief, a brief that is being undermined by someone with undeclared affiliations. The whole thing is blown by an operative who is more intelligent than her minders and, thirty years later, she sets about putting the record straight, via her daughter.

So, OK, this is my novel. It's an African novel in five chapters, each of which deals with one character's story. A missionary priest kills and old man in a road accident, witnessed by the others. But how they all came to be there and at that time to experience and then interpret the event is the substance of Mission. The old man might have been planning this all along!

Form and structure may appear loose, but that's an illusion. It's tight and clear. The idea of woodworm having to be stowaways on the Ark is wonderful.

I still regard this as the best novel in the English language. Like all "greats" it's also flawed. A vast, brilliant picture.

The Alexandria Quartet used to be essential reading. It has perhaps not grown with time, but I still love the complicated lives these people led.

When I read it the first time, I found the idea rather far fetched. Second time through I listened.