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Pub Walks in Underhill Country

Pub Walks in Underhill Country

by NatSegnit (Author)

  • Used

    Paperback 2011

    $3.42
Synopsis

'If your companion is walking far ahead, it can be fun to close one eye and hold her between your thumb and forefinger, taking care in case she slips from your grasp, or, conversely, you crush her altogether!' Graham Underhill is a much-loved local water colourist, ale enthusiast, and self-published guidebook writer - the 'Wainwright of the West Midlands'. But our narrator and guide is a rambler in more ways than one, and what begins as a set of walk instructions soon gives way to what Graham would rather talk about - mostly, his marriage to the beautiful and erudite Sunita. When a well-connected environmentalist and would-be MP takes an interest in Sunita's childhood memoir Graham's happiness seems complete. Or it would, were it not for the shoddy state of the local footpath network. And inconsiderate mountain bikers. Litter louts, pretentious landscape photographers, idiots who consider light trainers suitable for mountainous terrain, and the Highways Agency's plan to build a bypass through his house. At least he has his beloved Sunita. Or does he? Graham, it turns out, is not always the most reliable guide. And neither is 'Underhill Country' the sleepy idyll it seems...Cunning, hilarious and heartbreaking, Nat Segnit's debut novel is a guidebook to stubborn optimism in the face of marital - and environmental - meltdown.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
 Pages: 259
 Publisher: Fig Tree
Published: 03 Feb 2011
ISBN 10: 1905490577
ISBN 13: 9781905490578

Media Reviews
Such a brilliant idea for a comic novel, you wonder why nobody's thought of it before -- Charlie Higson A terrific debut novel: often funny, occasionally dark, always engaging -- Patrick Neate Segnit brilliantly mimics the orotund style of the self-published pamphleteer... [he] gets the tone of pedantry, censoriousness and romanticism spot on, and is capable of a truly Wordsworthian turn of phrase...Peruse this fine volume and receive ample compensation for your efforts Guardian A metafictional escapade...has both Nabokov and Alan Partridge as its forebears Daily Telegraph Has echoes of Mike Leigh's best films and Paul Torday's smash debut, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen -- Hephzibah Anderson Daily Mail If Vladimir Nabokov had written episodes of The Archers (with a little script advice from W G Sebald), then he might just have struck a note that chimed with the peculiar music of this beguiling first novel. Segnit cuts a swathe through the precious solemnity of the new British nature writing. Ambitious, ingenious...introduces a writer with a keen eye, broad horizons and a spring in his step Independent It's a neat idea and Segnit is a wryly comic writer. An enjoyable ramble Metro A witty tale...a comic exploration of real and personal landscape Vogue Graham is a pathetically, often hilariously, unreliable guide; a semi-tragic figure who brings to mind TS Eliot's J Alfred Prufrock in his nervous digressions Observer A really quirky, affecting book, and I've yet to meet someone not entranced by the opening Scotsman Hilarious...If the book becomes the cult success it should, maybe fans will retrace Underhill's steps Scotland on Sunday
Author Bio
Nat Segnit lives in London. His journalism and stories have appeared in several national newspapers, and his play, Dolphin Therapy, and two co-written comedy series, Strangers on Trains and Beautiful Dreamers, were broadcast on Radio 4. This is his first novel.