Turning up trumps

If you think that a room full of solemn people in groups of four play- ing duplicate bridge is deeply depressing, then this young-adult novel is not for you. If, on the other hand, that array of concentrated brows fills you with an urge to compete, then you may derive some pleasure from it. And if you are a keen player unable to convince your teenage children of the merit of the game, then you might consider this a useful present.

Lester Trapp, a brilliant bridge-player, now blind, requires a cardturner to speak out the cards for him at his bridge club. He asks his nephew, Alton, a high-school boy looking for a summer job. This being America, the nephew has a licence and a car and, in a laid back way, is content to drive his elderly uncle to his club and help him out. Alton’s mother has long had her sights on Trapp’s considerable inheritance, and before this offer comes along would urge her son to ring the old man and say: ‘I love you, Uncle Lester. You are my favourite uncle.’

Alton’s introduction to the game of bridge serves as the same for the reader. Trumps are described early on, further rules in succeeding chapters, and more complicated conventions and methods of play as the story progresses. The instructive paragraphs (‘A finesse is a cool play’, followed by detailed examples) are prefaced by a small drawing of a whale; this is because Alton would skip the factual descriptions of whaling ships when studying Moby Dick. The knowledgeable player or uninterested reader can jump.

Attached to this unusual primer is a story about a corrupt and vengeful senator, his beautiful bridge-mad wife, Annabel, and a doomed love affair.