Matt:
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The bowling ball is described as being sat on a chair of massy
gold, and there's a reference at the end to a queue (pun?) of customers, but that's about your lot.
When GW agrees to be GoH at a convention, I'm sure he insists on a chair of massy gold <g>.
Mark:
Thanks for reminding me of The Quincunx, a book I've had it in the back of my mind to read for some time. You might like Peter Carey's newest book, Jack Maggs, also Dickensian (Jack is the original for Magwich, and quite a complex character, not as benign as old Magwich). It should be out in paper reasonably soon if you can't find it at the library. And I'll take a crack at Dead Can Dance!
Tony:
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Now have a crack at my theory, Robert. I say that we meet - well, almost meet - VRT's mother. She's the prisoner in the next cell.
FWIW, I too have had this thought, fleetingly.
-alga-