Book description
From the Man Booker Prize shortlisted author of Darkmans comes a comic
epistolary novel of startling originality and wit.
Reading other people's letters is always a guilty pleasure. But for PC
Roger Topping contemplating a cache of 27 undelivered missives,
retrieved from a back alley in Skipton, it's a job of work. The quaint
village of Burley Cross has been plunged into turmoil by the theft of
the contents of its postbox, and no-one is above suspicion.
Yet Topping's investigation into the curtain-twitching lives of the
eminently respectable Burley Cross residents not only uncovers the dark
underbelly of his beat, but reveals a hitherto unknown strength of
character buried deep within the young flatfoot.
The denizens of Burley Cross inhabit a world of epic pettiness, where
secrets are the currency. From complaints about dog shit to
passive-aggressive fanmail, from biblical amateur dramatics to an
Auction of Promises that goes staggeringly wrong, Nicola Barker's
epistolary novel is a work of immense comic range. Irresistibly
mischievous, Burley Cross Postbox Theft is Alan Bennett with added
Tamiflu, sex-therapy and cheap vodka. 'A vastly satisfying and
adventurous novel, a state-of-the-nation comedy from a novelist who can
do pretty much anything she likes and is having a great time doing it.
This really isn't a book to pass up' Daily Telegraph
'This is the work of a writer in love with language and the ways people
employ it to express themselves…nothing short of dazzling' Observer
'A superb comic novel…the collective, whispery subconscious of a small
community is brilliantly suggested through almost imperceptible echoes'
Daily Mail
'Intensely pleasurable. Barker's sheer energy is irresistible while the
intelligence that drives this small comic universe is both spikily
awkward and sweetly benign' Guardian
'The cacophony of voices is the perfect showcase for Barker's
linguistic games. From love-letters to suicide notes, her language
vaults, somersaults and cartwheels across the page… it might just win
her a new legion of fans tempted by this funny, heartbreaking book.'
Sunday Telegraph Nicola Barker's nine novels include Darkmans
(shortlisted for the 2007 Booker and Ondaatje prizes, and winner of the
Hawthornden), Wide Open (winner of the 2000 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award)
and Clear (longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2004). She has also
written three collections of short stories, and her work has been
translated into more than twenty languages. Her latest book, The Yips,
has been longlisted for the 2012 Man Booker Prize. Nicola Barker lives
in east London.
