The author has been compared to Wodehouse and Waugh by Country Life; Golf Monthly called it “a superb comic novel”, Golfshake “a brilliant comic novel,” and Golf Today wrote that “Roderick Easdale effortlessly delivers in this witty, feel-good novel.”
For the publishers, Brindle Books, it justifies their decision to publish a work outside of their usual field. Head of the Yorkshire-based publishing house, Richard Hinchcliffe, explains: “Roderick Easdale’s Summer At Tangents takes us into new territory as a publishing house. Our output to date has comprised mainly of Action Adventure, Thrillers, Dark Fantasy/Sci-Fi and True Crime.
“It was a surprise then, to be confronted, a few months ago, with a comic novel. I had not really given much thought to publishing anything outside of the aforementioned genres. But as soon as I had read the manuscript, I was determined that we would publish this book.”
The novel is set in Tangents, a decaying English village with a poorly attended church and a struggling golf club. When the church is threatened with closure, the vicar’s good friend, a wily golf club committee member, acts to save the church in ways which also benefit the club and his friends and involve duping almost everyone along the way.
This is a world the author is familiar with, having worked as a golf journalist for a quarter of century and having been a member of six golf clubs. He has written five non-fiction books, one of which was about PG Wodehouse’s novels, but this is his debut novel.
To order a copy of Summer at Tangents, which is priced at £8.99 on Amazon, click here.