Set among the mansions and tennis clubs of Surrey’s richest suburb, The Savoy Truffle is a darkly comic drama that evokes an era when Mod gear was fab, the Shorty Nightie shocking, the coffee frothy, and a new Beatles’ single brought hysteria to the classroom. The grey post-war years are trembling on the verge of Technicolour, and the Blyte children are struggling to cope with the transition in their own idiosyncratic ways: Hugh’s novel is held up by yearning for the Irish au pair; Janey moons over the mystery of men and the enigmatic Black Mini; George wages savage war on his Enemy; and the Moo takes refuge in his exclusive Sloppy Club.
A crisis in their parents’ lives brings madness and death, a supernatural visitor and an all-too-real tiger… The children have to confront – and conquer – the follies of their elders with wit and invention.
Born in Windsor, Patrick Harpur began writing professionally in 1983, aged 33. Previously, he had travelled for a year in Africa before going to St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, to read English. Subsequently he did much of the reading and research that he would eventually use in his books, and wrote poetry, stories and plays by way of practice, while supporting himself with part-time jobs, such as teaching, market research, gardening, computer personnel etc. Between 1978 and 1983 he was a researcher and then an editor with a book-packaging company.
Since the mid-eighties Harpur has fashioned an impressive catalogue of books and has become known for dealing with such topics as Forteana, Folklore, Daimonic Reality, and various portents of the Western Mystery traditions – Alchemy, Neoplatonism, Hermeticism and Depth Psychology. He was commissioned by BBC television to write an adaptation of The Rapture, as well as writing various pieces for such publications as The Guardian, Country Living, Fortean Times, Gnosis, Resurgence and the Independent on Sunday. He lectures both in the UK and the US and has taught post-graduate students at Schumacher College (Dartington). He lives in West Dorset.
- ISBN: 978-1-908011-65-7
- 272 pages
- cover artwork by Merrily Harpur
- perfect-bound paperback: 216mm x 140mm
- black and white text
- published 28th June 2013