Foreign Matter: In Trouble with My Fantasies (The Many Loves of Toby Tucker)

Toby is an American in Europe and the most pampered of gigolos.
Original hardcover published by Atheneum/Macmillan, New York:
“Truly a very, very funny book."—The West Coast Review of Books
“Fresh and spirited.”—Publishers Weekly
“Enormously enjoyable.”—Kirkus Reviews
“A complete success.”—Books in Canada
“A delightfully comic creation.”—The Montreal Gazette
“Funny, ebullient comedy of errors.”—Santa Cruz Sentinal
“The feel of a Peter Sellers movie.”—Wichita Eagle-Beacon
“Fast-moving and funny.”—Anniston Star
“Could bode well for his future.”—The New York Times

"A hilarious and a wonderfully entertaining read! Robert MacLean is a rare writer—a modern Wodehouse, who somehow manages to channel the Master and make it totally contemporary and his own. As a writer, I am INSANELY jealous. Meanwhile, everyone else will have a marvelous time."—J. Maas https://tinyurl.com/yck4wff5

"This was the most hilarious book I have ever read. I laughed out loud again and again. I kept thinking this is the craziest book I have ever read and why I am reading it and then I would hit another part that had me laughing some more. I was kind of sad when I finished it."—Pat Thompson, Goodreads

"I could easily recommend FOREIGN MATTER for its laugh-out-loud plot, characters, and dialogue, but MacLean's true mastery lies simply in his love of language and his endlessly inventive and amusing turns of phrase...MacLean also knows how to present physical comedy sequences that are on par with the best of Chaplin and Keaton."—jon zelazny

The West Coast Review of Books:

Unlike so many humorous novels of today that are either bitter and biting or so outrageously silly that it leaves the reader feeling empty, this one’s truly a very, very funny book…Robert MacLean writes as a true humorist with witty observations and illuminations that wrap themselves warmly around the funny bone. Yet he is not above writing a hilarious slapstick when the need arises. MacLean’s observations on such everyday matters as flying, sleeping, eating and life in general are alone worth the price of the book. However, the addition of a wild and unpredictable plot with characters so wonderfully rich and eccentric, makes the book even more of a joy.

Kirkus Reviews:

The high jinks of a loveable ne’er-do-well expatriate—in an often very funny novel in the style of P.G. Wodehouse or Kingsly Amis. Toby Tucker is an amiable, quite lazy young man in his late 30’s who has left New York with numerous collection agents on his tail: “Most of them couldn’t make it as thugs, and they’re bitter about it.” An energetic comedy of errors…fighting his way through blinding hangovers to somehow blunder through victoriously—but he’s enormously enjoyable while he’s at it.

Publishers Weekly:

Toby Tucker is the feckless, likeable hero of this comic tale of modern undirected life. After supporting himself in Europe as a tour guide, Toby takes up with Marcie, a young American widow whose allowance from Hazelton Harding, her wealthy father-in-law, guarantees a lifestyle Toby is sure he was born for. When Haze threatens to cut Marcie off Toby alternately falls and steps into a plot to reestablish the status quo…. a happy ending for nearly every one of the vivid characters who cavort across the pages of this fresh and spirited first novel.

Books in Canada:

Engaging and stylishly written. A happy self-indulgent fugitive from the “it-isn’t-doing-you-any-good-unless it hurts society”…The characters are drawn well, the locations (Greece) are convincingly detailed, the prose is witty and polished. As light entertainment, the book is a complete success; this is the funniest first novel I’ve read so far.

Ebook design by 52 Novels. Cover by Peter Ratcliffe.