Customer Reviews

Winderbilt Over Floodsville

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A story of one (rather solitary) man, one umbrella, one belatedly discovered ability to fly, one (judging by Retch Russell's gorgeous cover) ill-fitting suit, and one self-effacing mission to save the village of the title.

With a colourful cast of supporting characters and a technicolour prose style, possibly the book's strongest suit, Andrew Cottingham rarely uses one simile when ten will suffice. It's a style reminiscent of 'Under Milk Wood' or, equally feasibly, Vivian Stanshall's 'Rawlinson End', which proved a winner when read aloud to my seven-year-old, a real fan of the slightly overcooked dialect-tinged dialogue.

Literary allusions abound. Winderbilt is the often mistrusted but gallant outsider (check: 'Ulysses'), who aids a group of travellers (possibly visiting from DH Lawrence). But, like his main character, Andrew Cottingham's writing takes flight and gains momentum, leaving a vivid impression of a writer with very much his own voice.