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Using fiction to smash stereotypes 21/03/25
Snakes' Elbows
Publisher: Faber and Faber
The village of Woodford has little to boast about – but when it becomes home to not just one, but two millionaires, the consequences are dramatic and long-lasting. Mild-mannered and shy, Barney Barrington is a retired pianist who loves beans on toast and cats. Jasper Jellit, on the other hand, is arrogant, selfish and hates everyone and everything except money and himself. Jasper feels threatened by Barney and uses sinister (and hilarious) means to try and bring about his downfall. In a seemingly silly tale of invisible animals, magic fudge, arms deals and the misrepresentations of the press, Deidre Madden has created a beautiful and moving story with subtle moral undertones. This book is very, very funny, totally far-fetched, hard to put down and even harder to forget.