Rancid Pansies - by James Hamilton-Paterson (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Three in the Gerald Samper series finds Samper recuperating in Sussex, when he learns that film rights to his book on Millie Cleatathe have been sold. This windfall is sufficient to finance a return to Italy--and his dream to write the libretto for an opera.

Book Synopsis

When we last saw our hero he had taken to his bed in England, his beloved home in Tuscany having inexplicably capsized into a ravine. As Rancid Pansies opens, Samper is recuperating in Sussex at the home of the famous conductor Max Christ when he learns that film rights to his book on Millie Cleat--the one-armed yachtswoman whose inadvertent hari-kari televised on Christmas day gave his book an enormous boost--have been sold. This windfall is sufficient to finance a return to Italy and provide the time to indulge a long suppressed aspiration: writing the libretto for an opera (if only he can find a suitable subject). Before departing, the ever-gracious Gerald insists on preparing a farewell dinner for Max, his family and friends. The meal of liver smoothies and field mouse vol-au-vent is a memory-maker--and the assembled company's gag reflex is one of heroic proportions.

Back in Italy, Gerald discovers that an offhand remark he had made while surveying the wreckage of his house, claiming he and his friends were saved by an apparition of the late Princess of Wales, has found its way into the Italian newspapers. Now, religious pilgrims and curious tourists have erected an ad hoc shrine on what is left of his property. Annoying to be sure, but there is the kernel of a grand idea here. Opera requires romance and tragedy, right? And who more than the People's Princess had such theatrics in super-sized quantities? And, if Princess Diana were to become Saint Diana, think of the promotional possibilities, the merchandising! So fasten your seat belts: it's going to be a hilarious journey with some of the most appealing comic characters and sumptuous writing in recent literature.

Review Quotes

?Imagine a British John Waters crossed with David Sedaris.?
?"The New York Times Book Review"

?["Cooking with Fernet Branca"] is one of the best books I?ve read for a long time.?
?"The Wall Street Journal"

?Provokes the sort of indecorous involuntary laughter that has more in common with sneezing than chuckling.?
?"The New York Times"

?Hamilton-Paterson quickly seduces the reader with perfectly captured tone and timing.?
?"The New Yorker"

?Hamilton-Paterson, one of our finest prose stylists, is a national treasure; and Amazing Disgrace is a gorgeous plum pudding of a novel.?
?"The Spectator"

?There is so much pleasure to be had along the way from Hamilton-Paterson's delight in language and wicked way with unreliable narrators.?
?"Times Literary Supplement"



Imagine a British John Waters crossed with David Sedaris.
"The New York Times Book Review"
["Cooking with Fernet Branca"] is one of the best books I ve read for a long time.
"The Wall Street Journal"
Provokes the sort of indecorous involuntary laughter that has more in common with sneezing than chuckling.
"The New York Times"
Hamilton-Paterson quickly seduces the reader with perfectly captured tone and timing.
"The New Yorker"
Hamilton-Paterson, one of our finest prose stylists, is a national treasure; and Amazing Disgrace is a gorgeous plum pudding of a novel.
"The Spectator"
There is so much pleasure to be had along the way from Hamilton-Paterson s delight in language and wicked way with unreliable narrators.
"Times Literary Supplement"

aImagine a British John Waters crossed with David Sedaris.a
a"The New York Times Book Review"
a["Cooking with Fernet Branca"] is one of the best books Iave read for a long time.a
a"The Wall Street Journal"
aProvokes the sort of indecorous involuntary laughter that has more in common with sneezing than chuckling.a
a"The New York Times"
aHamilton-Paterson quickly seduces the reader with perfectly captured tone and timing.a
a"The New Yorker"
aHamilton-Paterson, one of our finest prose stylists, is a national treasure; and Amazing Disgrace is a gorgeous plum pudding of a novel.a
a"The Spectator"
aThere is so much pleasure to be had along the way from Hamilton-Patersonas delight in language and wicked way with unreliable narrators.a
a"Times Literary Supplement"

About the Author

James Hamilton-Paterson lives and works in Italy. He is the author of several novels, including Loving Monsters and Gerontius, winner of the Whitbread Best First Novel Award in 1989, a collection of essays dedicated to the lost grandeur of the sea entitled Seven-Tenths, and several non-fiction books including America's Boy, a study of Ferdinand Marcos and the Philippines. He is also the author of two books of poetry and a regular contributor to Granta.