Stranger Than Fulham Book

Matthew Baylis writes story-lines for EastEnders and so it is perhaps no surprise that the protagonist of his debut novel, Alistair Strange, should have such difficulty turning off the television set. Alistair loves the telly. Any telly. Falcon Crest, The Sullivans, Take the High Road are all much more convincing and interesting to him than is real life, so it is something of a jolt when he eventually departs the weird embrace of his family--they are indeed strange by name and by nature--for Fulham and a job in vanity publishing. Baylis is good on the tacky minutiae of contemporary London life: "The Midnight Lounge of the Massada Hotel, W12, has none of the atmosphere of midnight, but a fair spattering of Massada", and has concocted an ingeniously diverting plot. There is a touchingly accurate love interest, a wry appreciation of the ghastliness of work in general and office life in particular and a neatly staged denouement that, sort of, pulls the whole thing together. Stranger than Fulham is, all in all, an assured debut from a stylish new voice. And yes, it would make a great TV show. --Nick WroeRead More