From Publishers Weekly
Another very funny, drily British novel by the author of Ease and The Aerodynamics of Pork. Hilary Metcalfe, an English teacher addicted to American musical comedy recordings, celebrates his 25th birthday alone, his gorgeous bisexual lover Rufus having stood him up. In an inebriated state, Hilary discovers an abandoned infant in the subway and takes the baby home to his seedy West London digs above an Indian grocery. Meanwhile, Rufus, unfortunately detained in a female student's bed, steps out of it and almost at once into the arms of Hilary's sister Henry (for Henrietta), a psychiatrist rarely impressed by masculine charm. As the baby wraps his fingers more and more tightly around Hilary's heart, he comes under the ever-watchful eye of his landlord's adoring adolescent daughter, who has made a shrine of his every discarded envelope and wornout shoelace. Now Sumitra recognizes Hilary's true divinity: he is a father who bears his own child, a Prince God. The bawdy narrative strands are cleverly woven together with witty and urbane dialogue and piquant characterization, so that the reader is thoroughly absorbed in this irreverent tour de force.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'Patrick Gale, on the strength of this modern, excellent and sympathetic novel, seems to be bound for greatness.' Stephen Fry 'Patrick Gale is an elegant, witty writer, with an engagingly bizarre imagination.' Sunday Telegraph 'Gale's blend of artifice and realism is not quite like anybody else's.' Observer
