The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep

Great fun, plus another barn-storming audio performance.

Charley Sutherland can “read” literary characters into the real world. He's especially keen on Charles Dickens, but Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, and some of Jane Austen's characters also make appearances. Told from the point of view of Charley's older brother Rob, a lawyer, the story begins with tracking down a version of Uriah Heep (from Dicken's David Copperfield) that has got loose. Personally, I have not read many of these referenced books with the exception of Dicken's Oliver Twist – which also comes into play. But that doesn't matter. I have a passing familiarity with much of this via movies anyway. It's a fun story, really centered on the two brothers, but sometimes it can get bogged down in long conversations. This debut is a well-written story, though. Oh, also, it takes place in Wellington, New Zealand.

I picked up this book on a total whim recently. It was released in the UK this year but with very little fanfare as far as I can tell, which is a shame because it's brilliant.

The author's debut novel, this is a fantastical saving-the-world themed book in which the main character's brother can read characters from books into the real world. He's a bit of a genius so I think Parry chose wisely in narrating from the more-relatable brother's POV.

H. G. Parry is obviously a literature lover and incorporates characters from Dickens, Austen, Conan Doyle and others. I think this is a hard thing to do well, but she really does! It was a great read and I found myself longing to get back to the book when I had other things I should have been doing