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Quality left-wing fiction makes its mark
This has been a rich year for left-wing fiction, both realist and surrealist.

Two of the most outstanding novels over the past 12 months were set in the Americas but were far apart both in location and period.

John Wight's Dreams that Die is a sharp-toothed and candid account of the author's ultimately failed attempt to make it big in Hollywood as a screenwriter, which documents his and other film workers' struggles to get by on the extras circuit.

But Wight's dying film career memorably contrasts with his growing political awakening and involvement in the anti-war movement in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

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