Undermajordomo Minor - Tapa blanda

'Eerily precise... DeWitt is a true original, conjuring up dark and hilarious images. This is a bizarre, darkly funny, passionate book. It is a story about love, discovery and fantasy for its own sake, a real storyteller's tale' -- The Times

'With Undermajordomo Minor the contours of the deWittian landscape have come into sharper relief. DeWittland is a place of exaggerated, creeping horror; a place populated by unfeeling characters who engage in bouts of baroque violence; above all a place suffused with grim humour. It's also a place in which the limits of genre are explored: Undermajordomo Minor is a kind of uproariously perverted fairly tale. It's told in a style that is now recognisably deWittian too: dreamlike scenes are recounted in meticulous prose' -- Daily Telegraph

'From its pitch-perfect opening onwards, it's clear from the unusual atmosphere and droll narration that deWitt has created a unique fictional universe... The challenge for the reader is to resist the temptation to devour a novel which should be savoured' -- Independent

'Just when it seemed unlikely that Patrick deWitt, or anyone else for that matter could approach the unique mayhem of his second novel, The Sisters Brothers, the Canadian has - yet again exploiting his flair for offbeat dialogue delivered with whacky formality by a cast of crazies who may not be particularly nice but are polite, sort of. Undermajordomo Minor insists on being read at a single sitting - it is that readable and funny. Funny and immensely entertaining, it has to be hoped that Patrick deWitt had as much fun writing this stylish caper as readers will have devouring it' -- Irish Times

'Patrick deWitt is an artful ventriloquist: for each of his three novels he has deployed a distinctive and utterly beguiling voice... DeWitt splices a range of whimsical genres into a fresh, charming novel about the madness of the human condition' -- Metro

'Tender and sad, funny and heartbreaking, warm and violent... Part folktale, part comedy of manners, part other, it exists at both ends of deWitt's spectrum at once: pitch black and morning light, as quietly unsettling as it is tender, as sad as it is laugh-out-loud hilarious. Above all, Undermajordomo Minor is a love story, and in its earnest and tender portrayal of that love, unabashed and irony-free, it's welcome relief from the current mood' -- Buzzfeed
'Undermajordomo Minor is a very funny book. Its comedy derives partly from the contrast between the narrative voice and the events described, but is even more in evidence in the dialogue, which uses repetition, circumlocution and understatement to create scenes that are almost Pythonesque in their absurdity...This odd, extravagant tale reads like PG Wodehouse setting Alice Through the Looking Glass at an outpost of Fawlty Towers Hotel in 19th century Austria: and if you think that sounds pleasingly bonkers, you're probably halfway there.' - Melissa Harrison, Financial Times

'Engrossing, slightly unsettling, and always excellent stuff... Perfect for a long outdoor read. A gothic fantasy, it finds a flawed anti-hero at the centre of a very twisted fairytale, featuring madmen, murder, love and a big castle.' -- Joshua Burt, Independent

'Dewitt's rickety [and] engaging novel riffs on the folk tale, transporting the reader into a gothic Europe. His characters are flawed, but game, baffled souls struggling in a petri dish, oddly touching to watch... As an element of the novel's quaint, breezily ludicrous backdrop, the conflict illustrates the bravado and relish with which deWitt conjures and populates a universe... This novel has a lot of knowing fun.' --Liz Jenson, Guardian

'A strangely seductive fantasy novel that erupts into moments of outrageous violence, it blends an aberrant but engaging take on the European folk tale with knowing glances to Samuel Beckett and Franz Kafka. A rollicking good read.' Four stars -- Martyn Colebrook, The Lady

'Thoroughly entertaining....deWitt plays around with the genre, and our expectations, in a delightful comic novel.' --The Herald

'Suffused with macabre whimsy, this gently comic offering from deWitt is a winsome exercise in lightweight gothic. Like the tray of "ancient cookies" that Lucy finds himself offered at one point, this is old Europe as only a North American could write it, but it has an eccentric charm.' -- Phil Baker, Sunday Times

'Patrick deWitt is an artful ventriloquist: for each of his three novels he has deployed a distinctive and utterly beguiling voice... DeWitt splices a range of whimsical genres into a fresh, charming novel about the madness of the human condition.' -- Claire Allfree, Metro

'Part bilundgsroman, part gothic fairytale, Undermajordomo Minor is hard to pigeonhole. Charming in its uniqueness, at times it feels like a Wes Anderson creation, with eccentric characters behaving awfully... If you're a fan of Brechtian tragicomedy, it will bring as much pleasure as DeWitt's previous Booker shortlisted endeavour, The Sisters Brothers.' -- Jessica Rodgers, The List

'[de-Witt's] latest novel is a gothic fairy-tale... [with] a hint of Cold Comfort Farm and Stella Gibbons's woodshed and wit, while an errant salami evokes J P Donleavy...' -- Jeffrey Burke, Mail on Sunday

'The latest offering by the Canadian author of The Sisters Brothers is a weirdly funny, dark Kafkaesque fairy tale for adults. Think Alice In Wonderland and The Grand Budapest Hotel and you're on the right track. It features an initially unlikeable anti-hero Lucy, setting out on a peculiar adventure, seeking employment in the mysterious castle of Baron Von Aux. What follows is a series of bizarre encounters and madcap conversations in this quirky, off-beat book.' --Justine Carbery, Independent on Sunday (Dublin)

Lucien (Lucy) Minor is the resident odd duck in the bucolic hamlet of Bury. Friendless and loveless, young and aimless, he is a compulsive liar and a melancholy weakling. When Lucy accepts employment assisting the majordomo of the remote, forbidding castle of the Baron Von Aux he meets thieves, madmen, aristocrats, and a puppy. He also meets Klara, a delicate beauty who is, unfortunately, already involved with an exceptionally handsome partisan soldier. Thus begins a tale of polite theft, bitter heartbreak, domestic mystery and cold-blooded murder in which every aspect of human behaviour is laid bare for our hero to observe. Lucy must stay safe, and protect his puppy, because someone or something is roaming the corridors of the castle late at night. Undermajordomo Minor is a triumphant ink-black comedy of manners by the Man Booker shortlisted author of The Sisters Brothers. It is an adventure story, and a mystery, and a searing portrayal of rural Alpine bad behaviour with a brandy tart, but above all it is a love story. And Lucy must be careful, for love is a violent thing.