An Escaping Angel & Other Matters of National Importance - Stephen Hall - Bog

This quintessentially English story tells of the first of several adventures in the life of Winston Walpole, his family, friends and other assorted characters. Winston lives in what is, according to him, 'Superbia' and in this tale you will meet, and get to know, the people who figure in Winston's young life. Fact and fiction weave together and political correctness flies out of the window. Winston simply flies, along with his Uncle, Frank O'Flannagan, into a victory the Duke of Wellington would be proud of and a birthday Winston will never forget. Even wearing a knitted vest and pants could not spoil this adventure. In fact there might not be a story to tell if it wasn't for Winston's vest and pants. A roving news reporter by the name of Ranjit Livingstone brings the surrounding world into living rooms, hospitals and public houses through the medium of television, courtesy of various sponsors such as 'Bang & Cook Suppliers of Wild Game to the Discerning Table'. Friendships old and new gradually reveal their depths, their common bonds. Friendships such as that between Gustav Eberhardt a German refugee from the Aryan experiment of Adolf Hitler, Clement Christmas Longfellow Cobb an abandoned dwarf from the William Quarrier Orphanage in Scotland and Tertius Napoleon Sawadogo a Chieftain from Burkina Faso. In this story they become acquainted for the first time, a meeting that signals a new thread for the coming adventures. And then there is Gilbert Herring, the local barber and his pneumatic chair he still uses today, with its links to the RMS Titanic. The action takes the reader on a journey, going both backwards and forwards in time. It is a story of a birthday treat that turns out to be a little unusual and ends up involving the whole country. This particular adventure of course concludes in the final chapter but the story itself will run and run.