A magical last coda

THE Girl in the Polka Dot Dress is the late Beryl Bainbridge’s 17th novel. Though unfinished at the time of her passing, some meticulous editing, directed by the various narrative suggestions offered by the author during the final days and weeks of her life, has helped to shape the unfinished manuscript into a largely cohesive and very readable whole.

At a skin-deep level, the result is a road novel, one that seems fairly straightforward in its structuring.