The Throwback [Paperback]

'His tale of an illegitimate member of the squirearchy earning his inheritance by increasingly nasty methods is both inventive and pacy' New Statesman 'Romp about one of nature's gentlemen making his innocent and ruthless way through the jungle of contemporary sex, VAT, law and order, etc... savage, knock-about farce' Observer 'Black humour, comic anarchy at its best' Sunday Times 'Crazy, but is all done with a savage delight which will have you laughing out loud' Daily Mirror 'He is funny, bitter, a danger to his public and should be applauded wildly by all' The Listener

‘savage, knock-about farce’

‘Black humour, comic anarchy at its best’

‘Crazy, but is all done with a savage delight which will have you laughing out loud’

A brilliant, biting, bestselling satire from the foremost satirist in the English language of his generation.

Hilarity ensues when Lockhart Flawse is catapulted out of his upper-class and rapunzel-esque life with the curmudgeonly Flawse Senior, and into the world of suburbia, and marriage. Rendered an absolute twit in modern society by his medieval upbringing, Lockhart must resort to drastic tactics in his attempt to return to Flawes House. Faced with the horrors of suburbia, he must either terrorise, blackmail and potentially kill an entire street of his tenants, or attempt to find his unknown and elusive father in order to inherit the estate.

However, with the belief that he was dropped into his mother's arms by a stork, killing a street of people may be the wiser option for the socially inept young man. He is also under amounting pressure, as it may all be in vain if his gold-digging mother-in-law has her way. Now the wife of Flawse Senior, she has decided that if Lockhart's wealthy grandfather can't have the decency to die on his own, that she will take matters into her own hands.

A brilliant, biting, bestselling satire from the foremost satirist in the English language of his generation.

Mayhem explodes in outrageous Tom Sharpe style when the bastard, Lockhart Flawse, exposes the suburban foibles of his tenants in Sandicott Close. Terrified out of their wits, blasted out of their clothing or taken away in small plastic bags, one by one they beat a hasty retreat and Lockhart's dream of escaping hated East Pursley, and his twelve rent-controlled houses, for the beloved fell country of his cussed old grandfather comes a step closer. But Flawse Senior has more than enough on his hands keeping the murderous, money-hungry Mrs Flawse at bay as she embarks on a mission to secure the inheritance. A custard pie tour-de-farce from the master's pointed pen.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Tom Sharpe was born in 1928 and educated at Lancing College and Pembroke College, Cambridge. He did his national service in the Marines before going to South Africa in 1951, where he did social work before teaching in Natal. He had a photographic studio in Pietermaritzburg from 1957 until 1961, and from 1963 to 1972 he was a lecturer in History at the Cambridge College of Arts and Technology.

He is the author of sixteen bestselling novels, including Porterhouse Blue and Blott on the Landscape which were serialised on television, and Wilt which was made into a film. In 1986 he was awarded the XXIIIème Grand Prix de l'Humour Noir Xavier Forneret and in 2010 he received the inaugural BBK La Risa de Bilbao Prize. He is married and divides his time between Cambridge, England and northern Spain.