The Escalator - by Andrew Budden (Paperback)

About the Book

It's amazing where you can roam from an escalator. Can William contain a brilliant, riotous mind to stop self-destruction? This novel confronts love and isolation, freedom and focus, reality and imagination with tragi-comic craftsmanship.

Book Synopsis

It's amazing where you can roam at the foot of an escalator. William, free to think at the bottom of his, is about to embark on the shocking finale to his mysterious search.

There's much else to ponder, too. There's his love for the barbed Cas. And who's the woman he meets every week claiming to be his daughter? There's the past he pictures of flying, TV, spiritual and sporting glory. But how does the ordinary life he remembers at the steelworks sit with being confidant to Marlon Brando and Michael Jordan, Brookside scriptwriter and Concorde's chief test pilot?

Can William resolve the conflicts of a brilliant, riotous mind to stop self-destruction? Are we all on the same track?

This literary novel confronts love and isolation, freedom and focus, reality and imagination with tragi-comic craftsmanship.

Review Quotes

"Despite its melancholic tone, the story and its characters prove to be endearing. William, for example, is characterized as someone who nurtures a deep desire to help others, and even to save the world, and his wife and daughter are shown to indisputably and unconditionally love their family members." ― Kirkus Reviews

"As the cast cycles around each other's vantage points, they suggest a new way of seeing all together-one that's both sensible and not. The plot becomes a protracted thought experiment. It taxes, probes, and pushes the boundaries of the genre, using the family's abiding love for each other to suggest a sympathetic outlook on the world at large." ― Foreword Clarion Reviews

"Difficult timeline aside, this story should appeal to careful readers who enjoy smart conversations and contemplation of life's bigger questions." ― BlueInk Review

"From celebrity connections and dizzying heights down to the bare bones of interpersonal relationships, family, and love, this heartfelt psychological drama discusses the nature of what is truly real and what ought to matter most in our lives." ― Readers' Favorite

"There's clearly a lot of passion and learning gone into this debut - almost every page bursts with thoughts, philosophies and ideas." ― Catherine Jarvie, freelance journalist, editor and copywriter.