A Short Gentleman
  • Published: 15 March 2009
  • ISBN: 9780099492856
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 384
  • RRP: $26.99

A Short Gentleman

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'An English comic novel which is elegantly written, civilised and genuinely funny, there are smiles on almost every page. It never tumbles into farce, for it is a comedy of character, observation and tone' - Allan Massie, Scotsman

How did Robert Purcell, distinguished barrister and perfect specimen of the British Establishment, end up in prison? An intellectual giant but an emotional pygmy, Robert is a man struggling to come to terms with the forces that have brought him down, from the wife who wanted him to change, to the ex-girlfriend who came back to haunt him and the childhood bully who turned into an adult bully.

Despite everything, Robert remains the same magnificently self-righteous man he always was, utterly resistant to therapy, change and the emotional demands of the opposite sex.
  • Published: 15 March 2009
  • ISBN: 9780099492856
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 384
  • RRP: $26.99
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About the author

Jon Canter

Jon Canter grew up in Golders Green. He studied law at Cambridge, where he was President of Footlights, before becoming a TV and radio scriptwriter. Among the comedians and comic actors he's worked with are Rowan Atkinson, Dawn French, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, Lenny Henry, Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones, Richard Wilson and Arabella Weir. He also writes comment pieces for the Guardian. His first novel, Seeds of Greatness, was published in 2006 and chosen to be a Radio 4 Book at Bedtime. His second novel, A Short Gentleman, was published in 2008 and dramatised on Radio 4 in 2012, with Hugh Bonneville playing the central character, Robert Purcell QC. His third novel, Worth, came out in 2011.

Also by Jon Canter

Legal, Decent, Honest and Truthful: The Complete Series 1-3
Worth
Seeds Of Greatness
See all

Praise for A Short Gentleman

Canter is a sharp writer with a wickedly dry wit. His precise style is a joy to read, combining riotous humour and moments of genuine pathos

Metro

With great panache and assurance, Jon Canter lampoons the pretentions of England's top legal set...this comic tour de force.

Emma Hagestadt, Independent

Witty, accomplished and highly entertaining

Mail on Sunday

This is light reading but deceptively so, offering deliciously well observed vignettes of the top legal set

Time Out

Exhilarating...brilliantly plotted

New Statesman

Brilliant, but for God's sake don't let this book fall into the hands of any women - if they find out what we're really like we'll never hear the end of it

Charlie Higson

Brilliantly witty

Arabella Weir

Jon Canter projects a series of funny, sometimes hilarious, incidents in which the comedy is structured rather than slapstick, verging on the licentious but masterfully avoiding it

Times Literary Supplement

He is arguably the finest comic novelist working in Britain today. Indeed, he may just be finest comic anything working in Britain right now... Canter's prose is achingly funny...it is also vital, acute, literary and oddly moving.

James Kidd, Independent