The Accidental Tourist was published in 1985 and made into an Oscar winning film starring Geena Davis, Kathleen Turner and William Hurt. By turns dark, heartbreaking and laugh-out-loud hilarious, The Accidental Tourist tells the tale of William Leary who writes travel guidebooks for people who hate to travel. It has been a year since the murder of his 12 year old son. The story opens with William's wife, Sarah, announcing that she is leaving him after which follows his descent into a kind of domestic madness where all the systems he has put in place for protecting him from the world no longer seem to work. Enter dog-trainer extraordinaire, Muriel Pritchett, ostensibly to put manners on William's troubled dog, Edward. Despite his rigorous barriers, William finds himself drawn to the outrageously unsuitable Muriel who represents everything in the world William has been at pains to avoid.

A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, The Accidental Tourist is one of our favourite of Anne Tyler's twenty-four novels. We hope you enjoy!

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The Van

On this episode we re-read Roddy Doyle’s, The Van.

Shortlisted for The Booker prize, it is the last novel of his superb trilogy about the Rabbitte family of North Dublin. Two old friends who are down on their luck and short on options decide that fast food might be the best way to make some fast cash! So Jimmy and his best friend Bimbo buy an old fish and chip van and go into business in Dublin, in the 1990’s … but not everything goes exactly to plan.

An ingenious look at the triumphs and indignities of family life, wonderfully funny, touching with a lot of grease thrown in.

We hope you will enjoy!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.