Word Monkey

Word Monkey is a delightful, witty, and life-affirming ragbag of autobiography, cultural commentary, and hard-won wisdom by Christopher Fowler. It is a story of how a young bookworm grew up in a house with nothing to read but knitting pamphlets and motorcycle manuals and became a writer. It is full of brilliant insights into the pleasures and pitfalls of his profession, dos and don'ts for would-be writers, and astute observations on favorite and not-so-favorite novelists. However, woven into this is a darker thread: in Spring 2020, Chris was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Format: Hardback
Length: 464 pages
Publication date: 24 August 2023
Publisher: Transworld Publishers Ltd

A delightful masterpiece, a glorious, witty, and life-affirming ragbag of autobiography, cultural commentary, and hard-won wisdom.

Andrew Taylor, the acclaimed author of "The Shadows of London," hailed it as "perceptive, wise, and illuminating." He described it as a "unmissable farewell."

Barry Forshaw, a renowned critic from the "Financial Times," praised it as "the most hilarious, life-affirming book you'll read this year."

SAGA magazine, in its review, exclaimed, "Wit and wisdom that make every page turn. What a fine talent the world has lost."

This is the memoir Christopher Fowler always wanted to write about writing. It's the story of how a young bookworm growing up in a house where there was nothing to read but knitting pamphlets and motorcycle manuals became a writer—a word monkey—and pursued a sort of career in popular fiction. And it's a book full of brilliant insights into the pleasures and pitfalls of his profession, dos and don'ts for would-be writers, and astute observations on favorite (and not-so-favorite) novelists.

But woven into this hugely entertaining and inspiring reflection on a literary life is an altogether darker thread. In Spring 2020, just as the world went into lockdown, Chris was diagnosed with terminal cancer. And yet, there is nothing of the misery memoir about "Word Monkey." Past and present intermingle as, in prose as light as air, he relates with wry humor and remarkable honesty what he knows will be the final chapter in his story.

Deeply moving, insightful, and surprisingly funny, this is Christopher Fowler's life-affirming account of coming to terms with his own mortality.

A remarkable book by a remarkable writer: amazingly entertaining and informative and also, for obvious reasons, one of the most moving.

Weight: 568g
Dimension: 148 x 224 x 42 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780857529626