David Footman

Pig and Pepper (Valancourt 20th Century Classics) David Footman

When young Mills joined the Consular Service, he expected a life of travel and excitement. Instead he's stuck in a post as vice-consul in Tsernigrad, capital of an obscure Balkan nation, with little to do other than get himself entangled in love affairs. When the dashing Col. C. P. Vickery, a war hero with a mysterious past, turns up in Tsernigrad, things promise to get more interesting - especially when he offers Mills the chance to make a fortune. The story that ensues, by turns very funny and surprisingly moving, is peopled with a cast of colorful characters, including the bold, charming, and enigmatic Vickery, who may not be all that he seems ...

David Footman's Pig and Pepper (1936) regularly appears on lists of the most unjustly neglected novels, but although it has counted Nigel Balchin, Lionel Davidson, Jane Gardam and many others among its admirers, it has yet to find the wider audience it deserves. With this reissue, the first in 25 years, a new generation of readers has the opportunity to discover this delightful classic.

"Footman knows exactly what he wants to say, and he says it with wit, humour, and an easy mastery ... Pig and Pepper is one of the most enjoyable novels I have read for a long time." - L. P. Hartley, The Observer

"The most neglected 20th-century novel I know ... It is very funny - much funnier than Kingsley Amis - but also sad, sweet and accomplished." - Jane Gardam

"Wise and wicked fun ... brilliantly entertaining." - Lionel Hale