A guide to Berlin takes its title from a short story written by Vladimir Nabokov in 1925, when he was 26 years old and living in the German capital. In it, a man relates to his companion the five themes that make up his guide to the city - Pipes, The Streetcar, Work, Eden (Berlin Zoo) and The Pub - ordinary topics that, in a strictly Nabokovian flourish, are made exceptional and meaningful.Gail Jones, whose previous books have been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Orange Prize, returns to this Nabokovian way of thinking and observing in her new novel. A Guide to Berlin brings together six travellers - from Rome, New York, Japan and Australia - in Berlin, united by their shared devotion to Nabokov.Cass, the Australian protagonist, meets Marco outside the apartment where Nabokov had lived with his wife, Vera; sensing a common interest, Marco invites Cass to a group meeting.The novel is infiltrated with historical, biographical and literary reminders of Nabokov - discussions of his life and work, visits to places mentioned in his writing, an obsessive focus on objects and patterns.The group agrees to meet once or twice a week in empty rooms to give an individual "speak-memory" (modelled on the title of Nabokov's autobiography); a short, intense biography of their life from childhood, explaining how they came to be in Berlin, confiding a personal suffering they've experienced and revealing how they've each found solace in Nabokov's writing. A stand against ordinary, meaningless social encounters, the speak-memories draw the group together through shared knowledge and symbolism.The dark, haunted cityscape of Berlin's winter is beautifully captured, with detailed references to streets, districts and tramlines composing Jones's personal guide to Berlin. - The Daily TelegraphAvailable as an e-book from Exclusive Books for R354..