An oddity from the author of "An Ice-Cream War" and "A Good Man In Africa", this hardback biography relates the few facts available to us of the short life of obscure Modernist artist Nat Tate. It reads like a New Yorker feature article and is overpriced for its content, but nonetheless it's still of interest - consider it a fable of the tragedy that can occur when an insecure, still-developing artist meets a confident master.

Addendum as of 18.03.08 - AH. I have now found that this work belongs to a far different "genre" than that first envisaged. Despite the embarassing misinterpretation of Boyd's aim I'm letting this original review stand, but increasing my rating from 2 stars to 4 in recognition of the new dimensions now revealed. ( )