My Cousin the Writer

It's the Fifties, and every weekday all of Britain likes to tune in to its favourite BBC radio serial, THE PARKERS. No wonder a young man at a loose end, and frustrated by his rejection for National Service, gravitates towards the makers of the programme - to its founder, the enigmatic Verity Orchard, her ambivalent husband Charles, and Cassie, daughter of 'Elizabeth Parker' herself. They all make claims on him - claims that will pursue him down the years into late middle age. And then there's his cousin, lan...Paul Binding's novel is a poignant examination of emotional and cultural confusion. Both funny and sad, it captures the ambience of a fascinating period of British life. Resonant with the intrigue of soap opera it is a novel full of character and characters, a post-modern journey through an England long-since disappeared.