The Anarchist

A highly amusing and satirical look at what happens when grungeland meets suburbia head-on.

There’s probably one lurking on the edge of every city, in every suburban town, on every middle-class close. A man longing to break free. Itching to peel off his pinstripes and put on something more psychedelic. Yearning to swap his G&T for something a touch more transcendental. Hoping to bypass his mid-life crisis and enter the New Age. Desperate for a walk on the wild side.

Edingley is such a suburb. Sheridan Entwhistle, balding and bored, is such a man.

Following a suspected heart attack, Sheridan outs his inner anarchist and sets off in search of nirvana. His wife, daughter, neighbours and colleagues think he has gone mad and should seek professional advice. His new friends, Jayne and Yantra, travellers en route to Glastonbury, think he needs help of a more illicit kind, one which will take him to a higher plane of consciousness. The hilarious, surreal and outrageous journey on which they embark together proves to be the perfect antidote to his suburban ennui…

Reviews

‘Satire is generally a crude affair, dealing in broad strokes rather than loving detail. In his latest novel, Tristan Hawkins exposes his characters’
flaws and foibles with an almost sympathetic intimacy. Sheridan is, of course, a sad old sex-obsessed bastard, but he is also self-aware, loving and funny. Jayne and Yantra, on the other hand, are filthy, deluded, selfish and philosophically challenged. Hawkins is as convincing in his portrayal of these deadbeat chumps as he is when describing middle-management politics and the inescapable hell of getting old.’
Laura Tennant, Harpers & Queen

About the author

Tristan Hawkins died suddenly from an acute asthma attack in January 1997.