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Stocks to Watch today, July 29: GAIL, Waaree Energies, IndusInd Bank, ONGC
Stocks to Watch today, July 29: GAIL, Waaree Energies, IndusInd Bank, ONGC

Business Standard

timea day ago

  • Business
  • Business Standard

Stocks to Watch today, July 29: GAIL, Waaree Energies, IndusInd Bank, ONGC

Stocks to Watch Today, Tuesday, July 29, 2025: The Indian equity markets are likely to start on a positive note on Tuesday with GIFT Nifty futures trading 50 points higher at 24,760 at 7:58 AM. Markets in the Asia-Pacific region were trading lower on Tuesday as investors awaited the outcome of the ongoing US-China trade talks. South Korea's Kospi was down 1.09 per cent, Japan's Nikkei 225 was trading lower by 0.61 per cent, and Australia's ASX 200 lost 0.42 per cent. Overnight in the US, Wall Street's major indices — the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite — ended at record-high closing levels, with gains of 0.02 per cent and 0.33 per cent, respectively, as investors gauged the US-EU trade pact. Meanwhile, here is a list of stocks to watch today: Gail (India): The PSU has reported a decline of 25.5 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in its net profit of ₹2,369.20 crore for the first quarter of the financial year 2025-26 (Q1FY26), from ₹3,182.93 crore in the same quarter last year. On a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis, the profit was down 4.9 per cent from ₹2,491.76 crore in Q4 FY25. The decline in the profit can be attributed to the decline in profit before interest and tax (PBIT) in the Natural Gas marketing segment to ₹661.25 crore in Q1 FY26 from ₹2,056.58 crore in the same quarter last year. Adani Green: The company has reported a surge of 60 per cent Y-o-Y in its net profit in the Q1FY26 to ₹713 crore against ₹446 crore reported in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal year. During the quarter under review, the company's revenue from operations from power supply rose 31 per cent Y-o-Y to ₹3,312 crore, from ₹2,528 crore in Q1FY25. Adani-Total Gas: The company has reported an 8 per cent fall in its Q1FY26 net profit to ₹162 crore against ₹176 crore reported in Q1FY25. The fall came after a cut in the supply of cheaper domestically produced gas led to higher input prices. During the quarter under review, the cost of natural gas, which the firm converts into CNG for sale to automobiles and pipes to household kitchens for cooking, rose 31 per cent to ₹1,049 crore in the quarter. Waaree Energies: The company's profit after tax (PAT) soared 92.68 per cent Y-o-Y to ₹772.89 crore in the Q1FY26 from ₹401.13 crore reported in the Q1FY25. During the quarter under review, the company's total income came at ₹4,597.18 crore, a jump of 31.48 per cent Y-o-Y from ₹3,496.41 crore reported in the Q1FY25. The company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) rose 82.61 per cent Y-o-Y to ₹1,168.67 crore from ₹639.99 crore reported during the same period a year ago. Go Digit: The company has reported its net profit at ₹138 crore in the Q1FY26, a jump of 36.63 per cent Y-o-Y from ₹101 crore in the year-ago period. During the quarter, the company's gross premium written (GWP) of the general insurer rose by 12.1 per cent Y-o-Y to ₹2,982 crore. IndusInd Bank: The private sector lender has reported a 72 per cent Y-o-Y fall in net profit to ₹604 crore in the Q1FY26, weighed by higher provisions for retail loans, apart from lower income from both core and non-core operations. The bank's net interest income (NII) dropped 14 per cent Y-o-Y during the Q1FY26 to ₹4,640 crore due to a shrinking loan book. On a sequential basis, NII was up 52 per cent. Other income was down 12 per cent Y-o-Y to ₹2,157 crore. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC): The state-owned company, in partnership with BP Exploration (Alpha) and Reliance Industries (RIL), has formally signed a Joint Operating Agreement (JOA) for offshore exploration of Block GS-OSHP-2022/2, awarded under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) Bid Round-IX. MAN Industries (India): The carbon steel line pipes manufacturer has raised ₹255 crore through a preferential issue of equity shares to non-promoter investors. Q1FY26 results today Among the companies scheduled to release their results for the Q1FY26 include Asian Paints, NTPC, Larsen & Toubro, Bank of India, Varun Beverages, GMR Airports, Amber Enterprises India, Piramal Enterprises, and New India Assurance Company. Besides these, Star Health & Allied Insurance Company, Welspun Corp, Jubilant Pharmova, Deepak Fertilisers, and Happiest Minds Technologies are also slated to announce their June quarter results today.

Gail Porter: 'I lost everything including all my hair but now I've fallen in love'
Gail Porter: 'I lost everything including all my hair but now I've fallen in love'

Daily Mirror

time4 days ago

  • Entertainment
  • Daily Mirror

Gail Porter: 'I lost everything including all my hair but now I've fallen in love'

Presenter and campaigner Gail Porter reveals how she has come out the other side of depression, alopecia and homelessness to find a whole new purpose and love for life Gail Porter is having a moment. At 54, the TV presenter and mental health campaigner sounds almost overwhelmed as she reflects on how far she's come, as she chats exclusively to the Mirror. ‌ 'I'm 100% happy,' she says. 'I've got my cat. My daughte r's doing brilliantly — she's 22 now, finished uni and is working. I'm working, too, mostly charity stuff, and often for free, but I still worry about the next paid job. After being sectioned and homeless, I feel very lucky. I have great friends.' ‌ ‌ But Gail's smile falters as she remembers hitting rock bottom. In April 2011, aged 40, she was sectioned under a 28‑day order at a North London psychiatric unit near Hampstead. 'It was terrifying,' she admits. 'I was drugged up to my eyeballs, sharing a ward with men convinced they were Jesus, and violent patients. It felt like One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.' In 2014, she found herself truly alone — sofa‑surfing for half a year, then sleeping rough on a bench in Hampstead Heath. 'I'd applied for library jobs and charity shop shifts. People said, 'You can't do that — you're Gail Porter!' I just wanted someone to give me a chance. Instead, I ended up on a bench thinking I'd had enough.' ‌ It was a close call. A worried boyfriend alerted the police, fearing Gail might harm herself. 'Four officers walked up and said, 'Someone's very concerned for your safety. We're taking you to the hospital.' I kicked off. I was furious, but I was desperate,' she says. Before these darkest days, Gail had known other tough losses. She was 30 when she married Toploader guitarist Dan Hipgrave in August 2001, and their daughter, Honey, arrived in September 2002. The marriage ended in separatio n by late 2004, and divorce followed in 2007. 'I've been married once,' she sighs. 'That was enough.' ‌ Before that, Gail had a whirlwind fling with the late Keith Flint of The Prodigy. 'He was intense and exciting, but it wasn't meant to be,' she says. Her career was soaring in the late 90s, hosting Top Of The Pops and The Big Breakfast, and appearing on magazine covers. Then, in 2005, her hair began to fall out in clumps. Diagnosed with alopecia, she refused to wear wigs. 'Friends said, 'You're beautiful bald,' and for a while, I felt invincible, but work dried up. I got asked to do interviews about being bald — unpaid, because you're talking about an 'illness'. I thought, 'This is going to be a bit s***.'' ‌ The hair loss coincided with anorexia and depression, and her once‑busy diary was blank. 'I lost everything — my house, my career, my confidence,' she admits. In her memoir‑in‑progress, Gail describes crying alone in Soho doorways, terrified that the next gig would be her last. Yet today, she believes she has the best of both worlds. After climbing back from bankruptcy in 2017, and making a Bafta‑winning BBC documentary, Being Gail Porter, in 2020, Gail is finally steady. She's renting again in North London, but still mindful of bills. ‌ 'It's awful out there. I work with Fair For You [a not-for-profit online lending company] to help people pay back loans without crippling interest, and with the Samaritans over the winter, because I know that darkness. Everyone's one missed payday from disaster,' she says. When it comes to romance, Gail is unequivocal. 'I don't date. In the 90s, you'd go out, have a few drinks, maybe meet someone. Now, it's all apps and swipes — I can't be bothered. I go to Soho, meet friends, maybe sneak off to a gig, and that's enough.' Her tone hardens at the memory of intrusive remarks. 'I've had dodgy comments — 'Where's your hair? Why no wig?' Sometimes I reply, 'Why didn't you wear better deodorant?' But 95% of people are kind. I love hugs — I get so many lovely hugs.' ‌ Gail's laugh breaks as she jokes about her frail eyelashes, fingers tracing her brow. 'I look like a massive baby with boobs. My lashes have grown back recently, and I save a fortune on mascara. I even microbladed my brows — they were too dark, so I bleached them at home. Complete chaos!' She's protective of her looks. 'I had my boobs reduced years ago because they were massive and my back hurt, but that's all the surgery I've ever had. I don't want anyone touching my face. I want to grow old my way.' ‌ She reflects on the n otorious February 1999 FHM photo shoot. 'They airbrushed me to within an inch of my life. Young girls looked at that and thought, 'Wish I had a body like that.' They probably took off a stone. They didn't pay me, made a fortune, projected it on to the side of the Houses of Parliament, and left me to deal with it. I don't even have a copy!' Fortunately, not all photo shoots she has taken part in have had such an infamous impact. Recently, Gail shot a campaign for Amber Jean Rowan's conscious‑sourcing wig brand. "Amber's brilliant — she gets alopecia. People say, 'Gail, you said you'd never wear a wig,' and I went 20 years without one, but now there's a choice. The first time I put on The Gail, my custom wig, I fell in love. ‌ 'It felt odd at first, but it's so similar to my old hair that it felt exhilarating. It's not about covering anything up — it's self‑expression. I now have the freedom to change my look whenever I fancy. I have the best of both worlds!' The Gail launches just ahead of Hair Loss Awareness Month in August. 'It became the best seller in the Amber Jean collection. I'm still proud of embracing baldness, but now I can also play with style.' ‌ Gail's journey is a testament to what she calls 'the brutal beauty of starting over'. She's hosting Q&As on Princess Cruises, touring her stand‑up, and raising awareness of homelessness with Prince William 's Homewards campaign. She's even planning a second memoir, already optioned for film. 'I've been at rock bottom, from sleeping on a bench to standing on a cruise stage, it's proof we get through,' she says. 'You don't need therapy if you find your therapy. Mine is a spin class. When I was at my worst, I paid £100 for unlimited classes for two weeks and did two rides a day. My friends say I look so fit and happy. It's my lifeline.' Her story is not one of bravery, Gail insists, but of survival. 'I hate it when people say, 'Poor Gail,' or 'Gail, you're so brave.' I'm not brave. I wake up, put one foot in front of the other, and here I am. That's all anyone can do.'

Can't Sell, Must Sell viewers jump out of their skin as woman reveals VERY unusual collection of ornaments in 'cluttered' home - gasping 'it's my idea of hell!'
Can't Sell, Must Sell viewers jump out of their skin as woman reveals VERY unusual collection of ornaments in 'cluttered' home - gasping 'it's my idea of hell!'

Daily Mail​

time6 days ago

  • Entertainment
  • Daily Mail​

Can't Sell, Must Sell viewers jump out of their skin as woman reveals VERY unusual collection of ornaments in 'cluttered' home - gasping 'it's my idea of hell!'

Can't Sell, Must Sell viewers jumped out of their skin as a woman revealed her very unusual collection of ornaments - gasping 'it's my idea of hell!' The Channel 4 programme sees property developers Scarlette, 38, and Stuart Douglas, 47, help guests transform their unsellable homes to become market ready. The fourth episode of the new show, which aired on Wednesday night, had the siblings visit two homeowners in Kent who had been struggling to shift their houses. They first headed to the seaside town of Margate where they met retired cleaner Gail, 68, who had lived in her four-bed home for 36 years. But in that time, she acquired a taste for some very unsettling collectibles - a series of life-like dolls, which cluttered every room in her house. Viewers found the eerily realistic toys very creepy, taking to social media to say it would have stopped them snapping up the property too. One said on X, 'Gah f***ing hate dolls', adding: 'There's a hotel in Broadstairs [in Kent] that's full of porcelain dolls and lots of lace. 'My parents say it's lovely (apparently the rooms aren't dated, just the hallways etc) but it's my idea of hell.' Another commented on the social media platform: 'Look like dead babies!' Someone else wrote: 'To be fair, I'd never buy that house in case the dolls came back.' In keeping with this, Gail - who was struggling with living alone amid various health struggles - had been advertising her property for seven months without success. She had managed to secure four viewings but had received zero offers. Presenter Scarlette invited some local property experts along to see the house, to figure out what might be putting buyers off. They said the jumbled house felt too 'busy' and like it had 'no space' - an assessment Gail was not impressed by, calling them 'rude'. She toured the camera crew around her doll collection too, explaining: 'They're very heavy because they're weighted, like babies... I just love them.' The homeowner even pointed out two particularly strange dolls in her collection of some 22, named for some notorious gangsters: 'They're Ronnie and Reginald Kray.' Speaking with her daughter on the programme, Gail said: 'Nobody's coming through my front door and I don't understand it. It's not a bad house.' Her daughter replied: 'It's not a bad house but it's very cluttered.' The mother shot back: 'It may be cluttered for you but I don't think it's cluttered for me.' Despite her determined defences of the current state of her home, Gail eventually embraced the renovation process. She liked a fair few of the changes the Douglases made, even jokingly asking the hosts whether they would like to move in to enjoy the transformed home with her. When the show caught up with her two months after the renovations, she was enjoying continuing decluttering and was feeling hopeful about making a sale. Speaking with her daughter on the programme, Gail said: 'Nobody's coming through my front door and I don't understand it. It's not a bad house' Her daughter replied: 'It's not a bad house but it's very cluttered' Elsewhere in the episode, a woman named Nicky was trying to sell the property she inherited after her father passed away. She put it on the market shortly after his death but 18 months later, there had not been any enthusiastic interest, with only 12 viewings in that time. Nicky choked up as she told of how difficult this period had been: 'Everything is starting to hold me back.' But everything changed after her appearance on the show, with the renovations pulling in more viewers - and even a possible buyer. It comes after Scarlette spoke out some of the most memorable moments from filming Can't Sell, Must Sell - which included discovering Gail's doll collection. The property expert, known as a presenter on Channel 4 house hunting programme A Place In The Sun from 2015 to 2022, just launched the show earlier this month. She co-hosts the first series' six episodes with her retired footballer-turned-property expert brother Stuart. It follows the pair's presenting collaboration on Channel 4 renovation programme Worst House On The Street. The property expert (left, with her brother and co-host Stuart), known as a presenter on Channel 4 house hunting programme A Place In The Sun from 2015 to 2022, just launched the show earlier this month Before the new show's release, Scarlette recalled working on Gail's house. 'One lady was very attached to her house and its Victorian style - she has lots of dolls', she said. 'When you walked in, everything felt oppressive. It was dark, dingy and scary. Even her daughters were trying to get her to sell it. She didn't want to listen.' It was not the only tricky project Scarlette found herself helping with, having also worked on a quaint cottage that unfortunately stank of dogs. The presenter explained: 'I love dogs but you can become nose-blind to them. 'One of the properties was a really beautiful cottage but the minute you walked in, it smelled of dog. 'They were so used to the smell that they couldn't get their head around it. Those are things you're not going to see but they affect a sale.' Stuart recalled fondly how happy the renovation made the guest: 'What made it important for me was how important it was for the owner. Before the new show's release, Scarlette (pictured on Lorraine in June last year) recalled working on Gail's house 'She was a really lovely lady. The transformation of the house itself was amazing but the transformation in her was memorable. She was so grateful.' Filming got even more emotional when the siblings visited a widow, whose home was stuffed full, overflowing with memorabilia, particularly china plates. Scarlette explained how this had happened: 'Her husband did the DIY. She couldn't do anything around the house. 'She was so grateful at the end, I was an emotional wreck.' The siblings also emphasised that throughout the shoot, no one on set, including them, was afraid to get their hands dirty. 'We're not just walking in, saying our piece and walking out. We really do get involved, even off-camera', she said. Her brother agreed: 'We had great teams. But we needed lots of hands on deck to complete the transformations. 'Even the cameraman took things to the skip. Everyone chipped in.' Scarlette added: 'That level of involvement was essential, given the scale of the jobs – and the tight turnaround. It was hard and stressful. 'We started around 8am and wouldn't finish until about 11pm. We cover two houses in a week. But the end result made it all worth it.'

Memory Cafes Ignite Laughter, Connection for Dementia Patients
Memory Cafes Ignite Laughter, Connection for Dementia Patients

Yomiuri Shimbun

time6 days ago

  • Entertainment
  • Yomiuri Shimbun

Memory Cafes Ignite Laughter, Connection for Dementia Patients

JAMESTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — Side by side on a sofa inside the National Comedy Center, Gail and Mario Cirasunda chuckled at a clip from the 1980s sitcom 'Family Ties' that was playing on a TV screen. The show's oldest daughter, Mallory, was introducing her unconventional artist boyfriend Nick to her bewildered television family. 'I think our daughter brought him home once. Maybe two of our daughters!' Gail said with a laugh over coffee and donuts later. 'Five daughters, two sons,' her husband Mario, 85, chimed in. 'Sometimes I'd wonder,' he smiled, shaking his head at the memories of the couple's own family antics over their 59-year marriage. Moments like this are what brought the Cirasundas to the comedy museum in western New York and the memory cafe taking place inside. The monthly events invite people with Alzheimer's, dementia or other memory loss, and their caregivers, to spend time at the interactive museum. For visitors like Mario, who has dementia, and his wife, the scenes and artifacts from funny shows and comedians have a way of triggering shared laughs and connection, and, as comedy center staff have found, memories. Gail, 78, treasures the moments when Mario — who still vividly recalls his childhood route to school and the names of old friends — also recollects experiences from their shared life. A 1965 blind date after Mario got out of the Navy led to seven children, 24 grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, careers and moves. However, memories made over a lifetime together have become increasingly elusive over the past several years, since about the time Mario started to get lost driving and forget whether he likes a particular food. At a recent memory cafe, the Cirasundas, from suburban Buffalo, and others spent the morning walking through the museum that was inspired by 'I Love Lucy' star Lucille Ball in her hometown of Jamestown. Gail kept a guiding hand on her husband's elbow as they smiled through Johnny Carson bits from 'The Tonight Show' in the center's late night studio, browsed standup comic George Carlin's personal notes and comedian Bob Hope's artifacts, and laughed out loud at a display of classic comedy props like the banana peel and pie in the face. During a break in the museum's restaurant, the 'Family Ties' video evoked scenes from real life. 'The moments are precious because he might not remember it,' Gail explained, 'but when you're there talking about it, you're remembering. Five minutes later, it's gone — but you had that moment.' The Alzheimer's Association estimates 7.2 million Americans over the age of 65 are living with Alzheimer's dementia, and an even higher number of people care for an impacted friend or family member. Memory cafes have emerged around the world in recent years as a way to connect and support individuals and caregivers, and provide information and resources. Many of the more than 600 cafes regularly running in the U.S. — often meeting in libraries and community centers — bring in speakers and engage participants with physical activity, music and art, all of which are good for the brain, experts say. The National Comedy Center held its first one earlier this year. It seemed a natural fit after staff heard from patrons about the museum's impact on their loved ones. Spokesman Gary Hahn sees the center as a kind of time machine, with exhibits memorializing comedy from Vaudeville to viral memes that can transport visitors back, no matter their age. Even before the formal memory cafes began, a visitor told the center's staff that his wife with dementia seldom spoke — but would become more verbal while walking through the museum and laughing alongside him. 'There was a stimulation of the part of the brain, whether it's because of the nostalgia or the comedy, that had an impact on her,' said Journey Gunderson, the center's executive director. Shelia Kennison, an author and psychology professor at Oklahoma State University, said humor positively affects physiology in many ways. 'It takes most of your brain to process what's being said or being shown to you and then to find the humor, and then once that happens, it sets off this cascade of brain activity and physiological changes that affects the whole body,' said Kennison, who studies how humor is involved in cognition, memory and overall wellbeing. 'So it really is a whole brain workout and a whole body workout when you get that really funny joke that makes you laugh and slap your knee and rock back and forth.' Laughter has always been important to Gail and Mario Cirasunda, whose children often gave their father Peter Sellers' 'Pink Panther' movies as gifts so they could see him laugh. 'Keep a sense of humor in your marriage,' Gail's boss told her before she got married. Even through the challenges, she said, she's followed the advice.

Father Figure by Emma Forrest review – a slippery tale of teenage obsession
Father Figure by Emma Forrest review – a slippery tale of teenage obsession

The Guardian

time21-07-2025

  • Entertainment
  • The Guardian

Father Figure by Emma Forrest review – a slippery tale of teenage obsession

Father Figure opens with a memory of murders, bought and paid for; then skips briskly to scholarship girl Gail, who is on the verge of being expelled from her expensive London academy for writing a scandalous essay. The connection between death and day school is new girl Agata, the daughter of notoriously corrupt East End businessman Ezra Levy. Ezra, a man who takes phone calls from Putin, buys football clubs and has had people killed, wants more for Agata than he had when young. Her anorexia is killing her, and he, 'fleshy and stupid', can't stop it. Gail sets her sights on Ezra: part compulsion, part seduction, an adolescent power game taken to dangerous conclusions. Gail's mother, Dar, wants to make it clear that they are a very different sort of Jewish from Ezra. Ezra, Dar believes, is bad for Britain and bad for Jewish people. A pro-Palestinian activist for whom Israel is 'a KICK ME sticker', Dar isn't sure about Ashkenazim (too much therapy, not enough booze) and 'suspicious of Hassidim ... booking flights that took off on Saturdays so she'd never have to sit next to them'. Is Dar antisemitic? Gail worries she might be. And Dar worries about Gail all the time: the mother-daughter relationship is close, troubled and finely drawn. Precocious Gail is the kind of 16-year-old who writes long, thoughtful letters to George Michael. They begin simply – 'Dear George … what exactly happens in cottaging?'– and progress, as Gail's dangerous infatuation with Ezra builds, to 'Dear George … I looked like a teenage girl in a pornographic magazine. He didn't see that. But I did.' The one-sided nature of the correspondence evokes exactly the never-enough feeling of adolescence. The conceit is charming and funny, if a little underdeveloped. The year is 2015 but, with minor tweaks, the novel could be set 10 years later or 50 before. Adolescence, and the hot, hungry nature of it, doesn't change much. The teenage girl, in Forrest's capable and unusual fifth novel, is a kind of bottomless pit of need – for desire, attention and the world to come. Agata, seriously ill, attempts to wrest back control from Ezra and her doting stepmother; Faith, Gail's one-time lover and former best friend, breaks away from Gail by flirting with a whole cohort of teenage boys on Hampstead Heath; and Gail herself is unstoppable. 'I fellated a Cypriot fruiterer at the apex of Parliament Hill,' begins her controversial essay. The teenage girl is also a thing mostly beyond adult understanding, and certainly beyond adult intervention, which here only serves to complicate matters further. This is a book that seeks to complicate everything it possibly can. From the sexual agency of teenage girls to bigotry among billionaires, mental illness, murder, protest, queerness, and the obviously thorny question of Israeli-Palestinian relations, Father Figure thrives as an exploration of grey areas. As a novelist, Forrest tends to reserve judgment: her characters are not likable, but they are tender. They feel things very deeply, and Forrest treats each one with distinction. You could never mistake them for anyone else. The same is true of Forrest's prose, the rhythm always half a beat from where you think it will land. The overall effect is of a kind of faux-naivety, even a childlike desire to spell things out, to have clarity at all costs ('Faith swam back and forth between the child and the mother, unsure of who could better advance her needs, because she still didn't know what her needs were'). And yet the contrast between this plain tell-don't-show approach, and the complex nuances of Forrest's plot, characters and morality systems creates a kind of literary twilight zone in which anything is possible. It feels like being told a story by a liar. Or by a precocious teenager. Forrest's adolescent ventriloquism is a gift deployed powerfully here. Being able to avoid the school loos, for example, is a 'more valuable talent than being able to hold your breath under water'; the only girl more unloved than Gail is 'Fat Lilah'; the resentment of Gail for her mother is matched only by Dar's desperation to understand her daughter. 'Living in the era where mothers could track their children digitally,' Dar muses, 'only made her daughter's emotional secrecy more challenging to accept.' Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion The novel twists in the final third: from a meditation on older men and betrayal, it becomes a breathtaking gallop into something significantly closer to a thriller. This is fairly unexpected, but not at all unwelcome. A plot! In a literary coming-of-age story! Nothing, in Forrest's writing, is ever simple. Things are deceptive, untidy and uneasy – and happen when you least expect it. Actions have consequences, and those consequences can change the shape of everything – which is, I suppose, always the true lesson of adolescence. And the true, tricky, slippery lesson of Forrest's novel. Father Figure by Emma Forrest is published by W&N (£18.99). To support the Guardian buy a copy at Delivery charges may apply.

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