The Wolf of Whindale

This short novel is set in Oldshield, the biggest city in Northalbion, in 1994. It concerns Lull, an alcoholic academic in late middle-age who experiences black-outs (i.e. periods of time in which he remains conscious and verbal, but which he afterwards possesses no memory of - a symptom of advanced alcoholism). The novel is narrated by Oliver, who was once a student of Lull's but who has now become his colleague. Lull has an obsessive interest in the occult (this has ruined his academic career), and he persuades Oliver to assist him in a ritual, to exact revenge on Lull's rival. Oliver agrees, but doesn't take it seriously. Immediately after the ritual, however, Lull's rival is killed, seemingly in a freak accident. Lull claims responsibility for this death, but feels no guilt about it; Oliver can't believe that the ritual worked, but is racked with guilt nonetheless. The two men become deeply suspicious of one another, and Oliver comes to realise that Lull now sees him as his new rival, and that he is planning another ritual, aimed at him... Lull is a psychological campus novel about guilt, responsibility, memory, and rivalry. It asks whether we are defined by our actions or by the intentions behind them, and whether we're more than the person we pretend to be.