The Temple
Patrick Dillon

The Temple is a near future novel set in a dystopian London facing its last night. Through a chaos of fires and frenetic parties, an old woman searches for her son, accompanied only by her own memories, by a stranger on the edge of a nervous breakdown, and a mysterious child. Susan's memory is failing, and her mind keeps taking her back to the past. But steadfastly she tries to focus on her task as she searches the burning town. Along the way she has a series of  vivid and surreal encounters: with desperate anarchists, with down and outs in a hovel by the Thames, with a robot, and with a self-proclaimed narcissist, the last person to see her son alive. But as the night wears on and the flames spread, Susan’s quest becomes more and more involved. Is she travelling through London in the future or the past? Is her journey really taking place on London’s last night – or only in her own head?