The Village Wit

Richard Bentley has power over women; and they over him. His bookshop holds power in its stories. Then one day, a Heath-on-the-Wold woman wants her own power. What is Penelope White willing to do to get such power?

This is the story of THE VILLAGE WIT.American Richard Bentley settles in rural England, looking for the contented life of a bookshop keeper and some fun with the local women. Heath-on-the-Wold seems the ideal place to get lost in work and forget the woman who fell out his life with the affliction of ＂marital boredom.＂ Bentley hires Peggy White, a mid-forties townswoman who seems his match in sass and intellect. Soon, the rules of attraction open a new chapter in their lives. Who wants power? Who holds the power?

THE VILLAGE WIT follows Richard and Peggy’s often humorous and sometimes dark odyssey through village life, love’s fall, sexual politics, and that place where memory and modern love-power-passion intersect. In the tradition of Iris Murdoch, Richard Ford, Margaret Atwood, and Norman Rush, THE VILLAGE WIT explores the effects of loss and the shadows found in passion’s blood-red corners.

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Mark Beyer has lived in the Czech Republic, Spain, France, and on a Maltese island. He has written about Gozoan fishing villages, the Bohemian capital’s ＂storybook＂ lanes, bull running in Pamplona, and living at the base of Europe’s highest peak, Mont Blanc. Born and raised in the Chicago area, he taught fiction writing at Columbia College Chicago, was a book editor in New York City, and worked for many years as a journalist. His writing has won awards for the short story (Columbia University Scholastic Competition, 1998) and for news features (Florida Association of News Publications, 2004). His children’s literature, written for schools and libraries, has been translated into numerous languages. He now makes his home in Europe along with his wife. Currently, he is working on a new novel, and blogs at bibliogrind.com on themes of literature and book culture. Max, the blind guy grew from a recognition on a street in Prague.