A Mystery

Caroline

When Mr Shaw meets the beguiling and enigmatic Caroline, she changes his life. But Caroline is a donkey, and their happiness is soon threatened.

A complete delight... Ancient myth meets daily grind, and the ordinary and the fantastic... are mingled everywhere you look

Delightful, unforgettable and splendidly peculiar

Medvei's prose is limpid and particular, telling the story with an exquisite control that interfuses the sublime and ridiculous in exact proportions, the one hidden inside the other... The result is pleasurable and profound. Medvei never puts a foot wrong

Medvei's fable about the inexplicable nature of human passion unfolds with a gentle surrealism

This absolutely engrossing tale is written with serene poise

By the end, as with the French classic The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the novel emerges as a cautionary tale of such subtlety that its truths - about dependency, love and ownership - are made bearable by the manner of their telling. And by their philosophical charm - which is Medvei's gift

The most affectionate literary portrait since Bottom was 'translated' in A Midsummer Night's Dream

It's short and definitely a page-turner - but with lingering thoughtfulness, rather than the rush-through-discard-immediately feel of some fast-paced books… He certainly knows how to craft a novel so that the reader rushes through, loving every moment, curious as to what the next page will hold

Cornelius Medvei was born in 1977 and grew up in the east of England. He studied modern languages at Oxford University and worked for a time in China as a teacher. His first book, Mr Thundermug, was published in 2006. He lives in London.

When Mr Shaw meets Caroline on his summer holiday she turns his world upside down. Caroline, whose eyes a man could drown in. Caroline, who likes a radish or two. Caroline, who is in fact a donkey. To the outrage of his neighbours and the bemusement of his wife, when Mr Shaw returns to the city he takes Caroline with him. She plays chess magnificently, charms his colleagues and, most importantly, Caroline re-awakens in Mr Shaw an appetite for life he thought he'd lost. But can this idyll last? Unfolding with the beauty and power of fable, Caroline depicts a glorious Indian summer in one man's life.

Cornelius Medvei

A minor masterpiece of the deadpan… a very, very funny book… genuinely original and written with understated intelligence

A brilliant parody… Blending the sublime with the suburban produces some of the best humour, and Medvei has it down to a fine art

An exploration of how myths are engendered as much as it is a whimsical satire of political ambition… Very much in love with the Sussex countryside that it so beautifully evokes… Assured, precise prose

NAME: Lynch, Andrew (b. 16.10.1958); a.k.a. ‘Mr Bolsover’ 
 
CAREER: civil servant, librarian, columnist, local councillor, revolutionary 
 
RECREATIONS: shooting squirrels, skinning rabbits, cooking with rats 
 
ADDRESS: present whereabouts unknown; last sighted in South Downs woodland close to the A275 
 
PROFESSIONAL INTERESTS: cataloguing systems, hermits, badger welfare, troglodytes, revolutionary politics 
 
But a Who’s Who entry can reveal only so much. Like all the great political lives – Churchill, Disraeli, Gladstone, Genghis Khan – Bolsover’s is one of incident, drama and passion. 
 
From the calm of Uckfield library to the demands of high office, a life on the run and a final confrontation with the authorities, The Making of Mr Bolsover is a moving, epic tale of a modern misfit and a political biography like no other.

Cornelius Medvei

Praise for The Making Of Mr Bolsover

A minor masterpiece of the deadpan… a very, very funny book… genuinely original and written with understated intelligence

Very funny and charming

A brilliant parody… Blending the sublime with the suburban produces some of the best humour, and Medvei has it down to a fine art

A minor masterpiece of the deadpan… a very, very funny book… genuinely original and written with understated intelligence

Very funny and charming

A brilliant parody… Blending the sublime with the suburban produces some of the best humour, and Medvei has it down to a fine art

A minor masterpiece of the deadpan… a very, very funny book… genuinely original and written with understated intelligence

Very funny and charming

A brilliant parody… Blending the sublime with the suburban produces some of the best humour, and Medvei has it down to a fine art

Books by Cornelius Medvei

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