June 17, 2024
Newman debuts with a witty and endearing mosaic novel centered on a young gay man’s desperate quest to avoid embarrassment. Natwest, 23, who’s nicknamed after the U.K. bank, is set to leave his mother’s house for his delayed start to university, but not before he tracks down the large dildo that was scheduled for delivery the day prior (“Humiliation, which was lurking around the corner of his life at all times, was now very much on his doorstep”). It turns out the package was mistakenly picked up by his dentist, Dr. Hung. As Natwest tries to claim the package from Hung’s office, where his mother works as a nurse, he encounters people whose stories Newman continues in chapters devoted to their perspectives. Among them are Mishaal, a film student turned imam who secretly watches classic movies with a Christian reverend; Lily, a crying teen Natwest comforts at a bus stop, who’s being extorted by someone she met online and sent nude photos to; and Hung, an amateur painter fixated on gaping mouths. The situations are enjoyably farcical, but there’s also depth to them, as Newman delves into his characters’ hidden passions and shows how they grapple with their self-defeating choices. This raucous adventure is great fun. Agent: Charlie Brotherstone, Aevitas U.K.
July 1, 2024
A wayward 20-something art critic discovers a great deal about himself and his hometown in pursuit of a missing package. The inciting incident for debut author Newman's raucous first novel is a simple mix-up of the Royal Mail. Natwest, a once-precocious English teen and aspiring art critic, has aged into a pretentious young adult finally headed off to university. The morning before departing his small town for the big city, Natwest anxiously awaits the arrival of a discreet package of particular length and girth, only to inadvertently swap parcels at the post office with his mother's employer, dentist Dr. Richard Hung (pun very much intended). As Natwest attempts to recoup his item, his path intersects with a number of seemingly minor characters whose roles gradually assume greater importance: Mrs. Pandey, a former teacher who fostered young Natwest's potential; Joan, a widower across the street who's getting back into the dating scene; and Mishaal, a local imam enduring an unhappy marriage. Newman expertly threads together the minor events and small mishaps of the characters' lives in a convincing recreation of the inescapable social overlap that often defines life in a small town. Underlying it all is a preoccupation with beauty and the value of art. Natwest obsessively sees references everywhere: His mother in an orange nighty recalls "Leighton's Flaming June"; the stares of disapproving neighbor boys "pierced him like the arrows in a St. Sebastian picture." More than motifs, artistic legacies are also the source of much of the book's humor--at one point, Natwest imagines Geoff Dyer attending his funeral. Newman works in more profound interactions as well. Reconnecting on a park bench, Natwest and former mentor Mrs. Pandey debate the artistic merits of a nail salon mural painted in the style of Michelangelo's Creation of Adam, the outstretched fingers on each figure sporting pink nail polish: It's Zizekian, it's Jungian, it's Pop Art in situ, "Warhol's soup cans, restored to the Asda aisle." In seeking to balance intelligent prose, insightful commentary, and compelling characters, Newman delivers. Smart and funny, Newman's debut is a refreshing take on juvenilia and the enduring potency of art discourse.
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July 1, 2024
With TV rights already sold, Newman's debut is being billed as funny, tender, and incisive. It's about Natwest and his last day at home before he leaves for university, the embarrassing package he's waiting for, and the residents of the small UK town he lives in across one 24-hour period. Prepub Alert.
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