The Body in the Mobile Library: And Other Stories

In his retirement at the Vatican, emeritus pope Benedict XVI is hard at work on his magnum opus: a high-school comedy screenplay.

At a grimy pub in North London, a doctoral researcher is abducted by gangsters peddling William Wordsworth’s handwritten account of drug-fueled sex orgies.

In the West African state of Benin, a politician’s daughter inherits a large cash sum which she can only launder with the help of a random Englishman sourced on the internet.

With twenty-one deliciously observed, gloriously mischievous short stories - some previously narrated on BBC Radio 4 or published in literary magazines, others completely new - Peter Bradshaw explores the boundary between the plausible and the absurd, often with a laugh-out-loud gag up his sleeve. Amid the playfulness, he has an enduring warmth and sympathy for every character, however hapless. He offers pinpricks of light in a dark sky of confusion and pain.

Peter Bradshaw’s absurdist yet plausible stories - some previously narrated on BBC Radio 4 or published in Esquire, others completely new - offer pinpricks of light in a dark sky of confusion and pain.

Peter Bradshaw is the author of three novels - Lucky Baby Jesus (1999), Dr Sweet And His Daughter (2003) and Night of Triumph (2013) - and regularly writes for radio and television. His collected reviews in The Films That Made Me (2019) represent his work at The Guardian, where he has been chief film critic since 1999. He lives in London with his wife, the research scientist Dr Caroline Hill, and their son.