The Man in the Moon

Are all aspiring stand-up comics as tragic as Baby Reindeer? If William is anything to go by, the answer is possibly yes. Nostalgic, razor-sharp and deliciously peculiar, this is a weird but wonderful comedy of manners by the award-winning author of The Tap Dancer. William is a lonely young man on the loose in the late 1960s. A disastrous appearance as a stand-up comic in a pub called The Man In the Moon is only the start of his adventures, in which he consorts with theatrical types, frenzied advertising men and accident-prone lodgers. Williams exploits lead him eventually to the consulting rooms of a Harley Street psychiatrist, where his delusions that he is a comic genius can finally be laid bare. Andrew Barrows second and so far last novel, first published in 1996, is a hilariously bittersweet comedy that follows in the footsteps of last years sensational reissue of The Tap Dancer, which drew praise from Alan Bennett (my favourite novel), Craig Brown (sublime comedy) and India Knight (hilariously funny).