Nobel prize winner Albert Camus played soccer for Algeria. First-time novelist Nikos Athanasou has been likened to Camus – for his writing, not his ball skills – but, on the basis of his début, this comparison is hard to sustain. A more convincing parallel between the two authors might lie in the diversity of their skills; Athanasou’s new career as a writer is secondary to his ‘day job’ as Professor of Orthopaedic Pathology at Oxford.