Gary works as a solicitor of little talent and has a thing for drinking in the pub and eating Battenburg cake. When necessary, he also seems to be able to glean words of advice and wisdom from the local squirrels who tend to show up in times when a good talking to is required. Writing style This is a book about a woman who essentially devolves (or evolves, as it would like us all to think) into an animal, which makes it a slightly less high-minded version of Paula Cocozza’s novel How to Be Human. It rips along at a decent clip and, even though O’Porter now lives in Los Angeles, does a very good job of depicting the empty aspirational scuzz of the London creative scene. In fact, this is where it thrives. The chapters about Mia’s awful workplace are much more compelling than the ones where she stops washing and pretends to be a cat. Here, our titular hero Demon Copperhead is born to a drug-addicted, teenage, trailer-park mother.He has to battle everyone and everything to make something of himself. But this is so much more than a clever literary exercise. Who should buy this book? Fans of The Great British Bake Off, especially fans who have just started to notice how wobbly the show has got without her. The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman The much loved comic proves adept at noirish fiction in a debut whose surrealist humour sets it apart’ – Observer

Peter Florence, Chair of the Judges, commented: “He approaches the world with a sly, mischievous smile. I guess this is what happens when you turn a brilliant, oblique comedic attention to life. The language and the tonetip your perception all the time, and he has this strange ability to keep the reader on the very brink of guffawing for whole chapters at a time. You get to love all these characters, the good ones and the bad ones and the very bad ones. And you’ll start talking to squirrels. And then you’ll have to think around what that’s achieving for you.”Writing style Love Untold has a plot, but its real joy is in how Jones digs her fingernails into decades of complicated family history. The risk here would be to boil down at least one of the generations to stereotype, but Jones fiercely resists this. These are four complicated, singular women on their own paths and the story comes entirely from watching them rub against each other. It is stridently confident when it comes to hitting you around the head with sentiment until you relent and start crying, too. Jones could write books like this for the rest of her life and they’d all be brilliant. Cover quote “His grasp of human loneliness and longing is beautiful and comforting” – Marian Keyes (again). And so begins Gary’s quest, through the estates and pie shops of South London, to finally bring some love and excitement into his unremarkable life… Like Spike Milligan, Mortimer has managed to use a novel for his distinctive comedic voice’ – The Telegraph Main character Sally, a woman who gleefully rediscovers her can-do attitude when all the unnecessary peripherals start to fall away.

It’s a book written by British comedian and national treasure Bob Mortimer. Of course I wanted to read this. If you don’t know who Bob Mortimer is, go to YouTube. His “Would I Lie to You?” appearances are legendary and absolutely hilarious, no matter how many times you rewatch them. I mean, if you don’t have tears in your eyes from laughing when Bob claims that he does his own dentistry, then you’re doing it wrong. Plot A story told over four generations of Welsh women – an unstoppable pensioner, her estranged daughter, her abandoned daughter, and then her daughter – written by the actor and Gavin and Stacey co-creator Ruth Jones. Can these women heal the complex wounds that drove them apart? All this suggests that novel-writing is a very promising new direction for comedy’s latest national treasure. The winner was chosen from a shortlist of six very different titles that collectively showed that comedy can come in all shapes and sizes: farce, satire, parody, and a gentler, witty geniality. Some people bury their faces in their smart phones all day. Not me. I’ve had the same old Nokia phone for years and years and have never bothered with social media and the like. I don’t see the point of it; I’ve got enough strangers in my life as it is.”

Customer reviews

Oh Bob Mortimer, you funny, funny man! This book made me laugh out loud so much. I am a big fan of this silly man. His appearances on Would I Lie to You often making me cry in laughter. He is so funny, no matter what he turns his hand to. If you like British humor, you have to read this book. I was thrilled when I received an early copy from Simon and Schuster Australia in the mail. My husband grabbed it and started to read it straight away. Main character The story is told from the perspective of all four characters, although the main one is Grace, a woman approaching her 90th birthday with the same energy that most approach their 30th. We meet her on a beach, snapping at a patronising do-gooder, and things progress from there. There are dirty cops, a barista named Wayne who wears tight t-shirts to best show off his biceps and an eccentric neighbour Grace, and her dog Lassoo. Who should buy this book? If I had to guess, I’d say every single woman who owns a cat will have this pressed into her hands over the next few months.

The conversations that Gary has with a squirrel in the park amused no end. The two lads supporting each other through the highs and not so highs of being a bloke today. Gary likes to look around and really pay attention to stuff on his work “commute”. He’s definitely a people watcher, and he has no time to have his face in a mobile phone like most others around him. Kingsolver’s novel is more serious and fatalistic than its 170-year-old predecessor – as Demon says, ‘A kid born to the junkie is a junkie’. But in updating it, she makes a great case for popular fiction’s enduring ability to shine a light on the kind of people we are. (BE) When a work acquaintance (whom Gary calls ‘sexier than a cream horn on top of a polished school bell’) suggests a pint, perhaps Gary can add to his tally. Their encounter is cut short - but after being left alone he strikes up a conversation with an out-of-his-league girl with Doc Martens and a ‘clinically straight fringe’. She’s called Emily and Gary’s instantly besotted, only for her to vanish on him too. I am a huge Bob Mortimer fan and have been since the heady days of Shooting Stars. I love listening to his tales on Would I Lie To You; enjoy watching him buffoon about on Gone Fishing and gurgle with delight at his impressions on Athletico Mince. I thoroughly enjoyed his auto-biography ...And Away and felt the same kind of joy I get when I hear his fantastic (and often true) tales.

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As in his television work, Mortimer conveys an infectious joy in his own oddity, and, as his recent bestselling memoir And Away… showed, there’s a sweetness to his worldview that makes his writing gently poignant. And although I can’t imagine non-fans emerging anything other than baffled, those who are used to his brand of weirdness will find that the book works well as a thriller, too. Like Spike Milligan, the only vintage comic whose fiction is still read, Mortimer has managed to use a novel as a vehicle for his distinctive comedic voice. What do you expect when a comedian writes a murder mystery that has a man named Gary talking to squirrels and names dogs as Long Parsnips? Whatever you expect, the book beats that.

When the police arrive on Gary’s doorstep the next morning saying Brendan is missing and he was the last person to see him alive, the book takes all sorts of twists and turns. There’s a bit of a mystery, a bit of romance, and a bunch of insight in human beings and their behaviour. Celebrities and good fiction books don’t always go hand in hand. Because celebrities don’t always need to write quality to sell a lot of books. Usually, their name value alone is enough to make a profit. And I wouldn’t necessarily say this book is the exception, but there are some things that do make this book worth reading. Bob Mortimer is a good storyteller. The premise of the story is definitely quite strong. The beginning of the story immediately grabbed me. And in terms of plot, it’s pretty good. But he’s just not a professional novel writer, and this can definitely be noticeable. Because somewhere in the middle of the story, I started losing interest a little bit. The story did a good job of trying to grab me again before I got to the end though. Bob Mortimer is also a good comedian. And there are definitely some snippets of comedy gold to be found in here. Like the brilliant addition of the talking squirrel. But, quite often, the comedy doesn’t hit home like it should. So many comedians have published novels this year that I have begun to wonder whether writing one is an assignment in a yet-to-be-broadcast episode of Taskmaster. Most of them have confirmed the axiom that comics can’t write memorable fiction: even the novels of master funnymen such as Eric Morecambe and Les Dawson did not burnish their reputations.Plot Sally Parker is the bored wife of an elaborately rich hedge fund manager. She has a full-time nanny, a chef and someone to groom her dogs. But when her husband suddenly goes bankrupt, all this is whipped away from her and she can start to find herself again. This debut novel comes from the comedian and former Bake Off co-host Mel Giedroyc, one half of Mel and Sue. Mortimer commented on the win: “I'm really chuffed to have won the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction, and what a treat to have an old spot pig named after the book. I still have no idea if I can actually write but this award gives me fresh hope. Cheers!” To describe me as anonymous would be unfair but to notice me other than in passing would be a rarity"