Description
Scorper, noun, a tool used to scoop out broad areas when engraving wood or metal. Scorper, novel, an uncanny and sinister tale of an eccentric American visitor to the small Sussex town of Ditchling, searching for stories about his grandfather. A tale of twitching curtains, severed hands and peculiar sexual practices. A book about Eric Gill's artistic legacy, his despicable behaviour and enduring influence. Scorper is a strange and beautiful English comic masterpiece, with added bird bones.
A tender black comedy that cuts right to the heart of a curious English town, for fans of Nicola Barker, Patrick deWitt and Ali Smith
About the Author
ROB MAGNUSON SMITH teaches creative writing at the University of Exeter and is a contributing editor to Playboy magazine. His debut novel The Gravedigger won the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Award. He is half-American, half-English.
Reviews
Powerfully original, funny and strange and haunting -- Tessa Hadley, author * Clever Girl *
Scorper is a charming, funny, tender pleasure. A pleasing air of mania and madness -- Andrew Miller, Costa Award-winning author * Pure *
[An] original, darkly comic novel... It's a funny, unsettling read; Kafka crossed with Flann O'Brien -- Brandon Robshaw * Independent on Sunday **** *
[A] funny, disturbing portrayal of a mind at odds with itself -- Hannah Rosefield * Guardian *
Scorper is delightful. It's funny, thought-provoking, and different to anything that's preceded it. John Cull is a great character in a cast of great characters... It's a little work of genius * Bookmunch *
Scorper is most unusual, and most rewarding. Gradually it bleeds from the pastoral through the surreal and into the horrific, like an Evelyn Waugh novel given the Edgar Allan Poe treatment, the kind of story where you don't realize until the shears have closed that you were caught between them -- Kevin Brockmeier, author * The Brief History of the Dead *
This is rural mystery at its best - dark, deceitful and uncomfortable -- Andy Barr * Absolutely Chelsea and Fulham *
[A] funny, disturbing portrayal of a mind at odds with itself -- Hannah Rosefield * Guardian *
Strange and beautiful -- Zoe Johnson * Big Issue in the North *
Book Information
ISBN 9781783781065
Author Rob Magnuson Smith
Format Paperback
Page Count 272
Imprint Granta Books
Publisher Granta Books
Weight(grams) 194g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 18mm
A tender black comedy that cuts right to the heart of a curious English town, for fans of Nicola Barker, Patrick deWitt and Ali Smith
About the Author
ROB MAGNUSON SMITH teaches creative writing at the University of Exeter and is a contributing editor to Playboy magazine. His debut novel The Gravedigger won the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Award. He is half-American, half-English.
Reviews
Powerfully original, funny and strange and haunting -- Tessa Hadley, author * Clever Girl *
Scorper is a charming, funny, tender pleasure. A pleasing air of mania and madness -- Andrew Miller, Costa Award-winning author * Pure *
[An] original, darkly comic novel... It's a funny, unsettling read; Kafka crossed with Flann O'Brien -- Brandon Robshaw * Independent on Sunday **** *
[A] funny, disturbing portrayal of a mind at odds with itself -- Hannah Rosefield * Guardian *
Scorper is delightful. It's funny, thought-provoking, and different to anything that's preceded it. John Cull is a great character in a cast of great characters... It's a little work of genius * Bookmunch *
Scorper is most unusual, and most rewarding. Gradually it bleeds from the pastoral through the surreal and into the horrific, like an Evelyn Waugh novel given the Edgar Allan Poe treatment, the kind of story where you don't realize until the shears have closed that you were caught between them -- Kevin Brockmeier, author * The Brief History of the Dead *
This is rural mystery at its best - dark, deceitful and uncomfortable -- Andy Barr * Absolutely Chelsea and Fulham *
[A] funny, disturbing portrayal of a mind at odds with itself -- Hannah Rosefield * Guardian *
Strange and beautiful -- Zoe Johnson * Big Issue in the North *
Book Information
ISBN 9781783781065
Author Rob Magnuson Smith
Format Paperback
Page Count 272
Imprint Granta Books
Publisher Granta Books
Weight(grams) 194g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 18mm
