<p>''I will never forget these characters: so pained and funny, so brilliantly drawn, wrestled with and forgiven''<br><b>HELEN GARNER</b><br><br>Boy-made-good T¿Erskine is back in the north London suburb of his youth, visiting his father - stubborn, selfish, complicated Vic. Things have changed for T¿ he''s got a steady job, a brand-new car and a London flat all concrete and glass, with a sliver of a river view. <br><br>Except, underneath the surface, not much has changed at all. He''s still the boy seeking his father''s approval; the young man playing late-night poker with his best friend, unreliable, infuriating Ben Mossam; the one still desperately in love with the enigmatic Lia. <br><br>Lia''s life, on the other hand, has been transformed: now a single mum to two-year-old Joel, she doesn''t have time for anyone - not even herself.<br><br>When the unthinkable happens, Joel finds himself at the centre of a strange constellation of men - T¿ Vic, Ben - none of whom is fully equipped to