The elephant - Richard Rayner

'A new English novel that is very funny and not written by Martin Amis . . . an hilarious and very sad account of one man's crazy father told by a son who is also a liar and a dreamer . . . well written, vividly described, hilariously tragic and almost elegiac' Irish Times

'Rayner is an exuberant storyteller. Bradford surges, full of crooks, cheats and knowing ladies . . . a highly charged comic novel' Weekend Telegraph

'Richard Rayner's second book make the first-person smudgers of novels like Illywhacker and Midnight's Children look like George Washington . . . captivating, peculiar and full of good jokes. Calling a work about the treachery of memory The Elephant is just one of them' Independent on Sunday

'The freshest and most startling new voice in years' US Vogue

'A big sprawling headbutt of a novel . . . a book of flashy pyrotechnics, false starts and hidden punches' Sunday Telegraph

'A brilliant pastiche of the gangster movie, recreating the years of Mini cars and mini skirts, in one of the wittiest novels for a long time' Marie Claire

'Genuinely moving and tragic . . . a powerful debut' City Limits