The Hippopotamus

"My goodness what fruity language Fry uses! You can feel his enjoyment, and also the huge force of hi desire to please you, as you read this." -- "William Leith, Mail on Sunday""One of the funniest people writing on either side of the Atlantic...like a combination of Evelyn Waugh and Kingsley Amis but funnier than either." -- "Publishers Weekly""From the Hardcover edition."

Ted Wallace is an old, sour, womanising, cantankerous, whisky-sodden beast of a failed poet and drama critic, but he has his faults too. Fired from his newspaper, months behind on his alimony payments and disgusted with a world that undervalues him, Ted seeks a few months repose and free drink at Swafford Hall, the country mansion of his old friend Lord Logan. But strange things have been going on at Swafford. Miracles. Healings. Phenomena beyond the comprehension of a mud-caked hippopotamus like Ted.