Angels are not complete, they need their counterparts, the dark needs the bright, the hidden needs the open, and vice versa. Sometimes they meet and recognise each other. Sometimes, as with Horatio and me, the pairing occurs over spaces of time and distance.

Sacred Hunger (1992) centres on the Atlantic slave trade that moves from Liverpool to West Africa Florida and the West Indies. It was adapted as a film The Reckoning (2003) starring Paul Bettany and Willem Dafoe. – with sufficient subtlety and accuracy.

He publiBarry Unsworthd 17 novels and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times winning once for the 1992 novel Sacred Hunger.