The Stars’ Tennis Balls
by Stephen Fry (Hutchinson, 2000); audiobook read by Stephen Fry (Random House, 2010)
Beginning as a typically loquacious exploration of class and envy, Fry’s fourth novel (‘Revenge’ in reissue) is forged over three acts into a harrowing, tender, bitter Shakespearean tragedy – best performed by Fry himself. Two-facedness reaps what it sows; the cycle starts over.