First published 2019
Edgar Finchley has worked as an unmarried clerk for decades without taking a single day off. At 45, his employers finally force him to take a holiday. He plans a quiet trip to the seaside, but fate intervenes immediately. A cheerful criminal abducts the mild-mannered Finchley, launching him into a chain of bewildering escapades across the English countryside. The timid clerk finds himself caught up in smuggling operations off the south coast, traveling westward through rural England with a cast of eccentric characters. Each misadventure tests his resolve to accept whatever comes his way. Finchley's journey takes him far from his orderly London life, through villages and farms he never knew existed. His mounting pleasure in this unexpected vagabondage transforms both his view of England and himself. The reluctant adventurer discovers courage he never suspected, finding joy in bread and cheese, beer and pipe, and the strange ways of the people he meets. This gentle comedy follows one man's awakening to life beyond his clerk's desk.
Genres: 20th-century, adventure, comedy, contemporary-romance
Vibes: thought-provoking, whimsical
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, reluctant-adventurer
Setting: England, London, South Coast
Period: 20th Century
320 pages · Paperback · Farrago