Reviewed on Richard & Judy on Wednesday 3 June 2009.
Featured on The Book Show on Sky Arts on 26 February 2009.
February 2009 Good Housekeeping selection.
If this book becomes a film – not unlikely given its author’s credentials as a TV drama producer – the hauntingly magical composer Danny Elfman (Edward Scissorhands, Desperate Housewives) would be top choice for the soundtrack. This strangely spirited tale of what happens to the family of children’s author Arthur Hayman in the wake of his demise under a cement mixer is blown along with a powerful gust of black humour. Hayman’s fictional Mr Toppit has a malevolence, real or imagined, which inveigles all who know him.
Lovereading view...
Fantastic characterisation and plotlines make this an unputdownable read. A brilliant satire on celebrity culture, thoroughly recommended.
The bestselling Richard and Judy Book Club Pick 'Jangly with secrets' Sunday Times 'Funny, inventive, surprisingly moving' Guardian 'Royal Tenenbaums-style saga of dysfunctional family' The Times When Arthur Hayman, author of The Hayseed Chronicles, dies, a bizarre chain of events makes his series of children’s novels world-famous. But buried deep inside the books lie secrets that begin to shake Arthur’s family – his son, Luke, reluctantly immortalized as the young hero; his daughter, Rachel, for whom the books are a hole through which her life has fallen; and his enigmatic wife, Martha, who knows that secrets are best kept well-hidden. And at the heart of The Hayseed Chronicles is the mysterious Mr Toppit, who will let none of the Haymans out of his grasp… A darkly comic story of a family shaped by their father’s literary legacy, exploring fame, fandom and long-buried secrets
