Found in a second-hand bookshop in Vevey. When I picked it up I actually thought the title was Bedstead by the side of the road and have only just realised about the redhead now I am registering it. I have not been drinking.

The redhead is actually a fire hydrant and not really so relevant to the story that it merits the role of title, but at least it intrigued me.
Micah is a bachelor in his 40s, set in his ways (some think obsessive); one day comes home to find a young man on his doorstep who claims to be his son.
The writing flows smoothly and effortlessly, except for the last chapter that suddenly veers into the present tense which always seems wrong to me. The end came a bit suddenly as there were still quite a few pages to go - 10 of them, all empty, and I was expecting to read for longer.

I liked "he was visited by a kind of translucent scarf of a memory floating down upon him".

I was puzzled by the fact that he could pay a cheque into an ATM. I haven't seen cheques in decades.

at the meetup

Pris lors de la première rencontre de l'année.