On the most important day in his business calendar, Michael Peel awakes to find that he has undergone an inconvenient transformation. Melissa Viney, frequent Guardian journalist and presenter of BBC Radio 4’s “Something Understood”, describes The Peppered Moth as “a hilarious and pacey debut novel.” which “had me laughing out loud.”
Inspired by the grotesque comedies of Tom Sharpe and with a nod to Kafka’s Metamorphosis, The Peppered Moth is a lively romp through late twentieth-century London. Pitilessly skewering such monsters as a personal loan company boss but equally scathing of the out-of-control mores of political correctness, this is a blast of fresh air that tackles the delicate subject of identity with what appears to be reckless glee.
Although Michael Peel’s inconvenient transformation is only skin deep, it is a change that immediately induces hysteria in his wife. The police are called and Mr Peel finds himself on the run, the prime suspect in a murder case and the focus of a national news story. Forced to impersonate a fictitious friend, he embarks on a desperate adventure that will involve him in everything from enforced stand-up comedy to naked cycling in South London – and will test every fibre of his being. Culminating in a riot in Trafalgar Square, this is a hilarious roller coaster that will have you laughing out loud.
“Loved, I mean LOVED The Peppered Moth,” wrote Carol Cooper, a magazine copy editor. “It has a deliciously cosy, old-fashioned English sense of humour, wrapped around a modern message about race relations in modern multicultural Britain, bourgeois preconceptions and the role of the media. Right from the opening scene, with Mr Peel contemplating his espadrilles and worrying about fish and mortgage payments, you are 100% engaged with this character. He starts off as a recognisably unremarkable man, deeply English and slightly stuffy. In his inadequacy and propensity for embarrassment and ‘skirting the issue’ he is J Alfred Prufrock meets Basil Fawlty. He’s not possessed of much courage but, as his situation becomes increasingly bizarre and farcical, as with all good heroes, he finds hitherto uncalled for reserves of strength and character. The resolution is a delight and when the moth set-up is finally paid off it is as satisfying as a good sneeze brought on by a dose of pepper.”
Publisher: Tightrope