Synopses & Reviews
In the illustrious history of the theatrical Fishers, there are two Georges. One is a peculiar but endearing 11-year-old, raised in the seedy world of '70s boarding houses and backstages, now packed off to school for the first time; the other, a garrulous ventriloquist's dummy who belonged to George's grandfather, a favorite traveling act of the British troops in World War II. The two Georges know nothing of each other until events conspire to unite them in a search to uncover the family's deepest secrets.
While the dummy lays dusty, silent, and abandoned, his young namesake sets out to learn about his dead grandfather's past as a world-famous ventriloquist, his magical powers, and their family's curious history. Weaving the boy's tale and the puppet's "memoirs," By George unveils the fascinating Fisher family its weak men, its dominant women, its disgruntled boys, and its shocking and dramatic secrets. At once bitingly funny and exquisitely tender, Stace's novel is the unforgettable journey of two young boys separated by years but driven by the same desires: to find a voice, and to be loved.
Review
"Stace...has a real talent for re-creating a variety of settings, from battlefields to boarding houses to the backstages of vaudeville. This novel is an original, and it ends with a most satisfying revelation." Library Journal
Review
"Characters spring to life in the words of the sardonic dummy, whose pointed comments about his wacky family make the book a hoot to read and beg the question, 'Who's in control, the puppet or the puppet master?' Book groups will enjoy sorting out this one!" Booklist
Review
"By George is one of those rare works of fiction with an essential triple helix it's funny, it's clever and it's perfectly woven together with story. If writing is how we imagine not being lonely, as Wesley Stace suggests, then his conjuring trick as a writer is that he brings a large crowd along with him. This is a wonderful follow-up to his debut novel, Misfortune." Colum McCann, author of Zoli and Dancer
Review
"In his odd but intermittently compelling novel about four generations of British variety performers, Wesley Stace nonchalantly mixes genres, voices and prose styles from several centuries." Los Angeles Times
Synopsis
Two years ago, singer-songwriter Wesley Stace blew onto the literary scene with his bold and free-wheeling Dickensian comedy Misfortune. Now, he is back with another wonderfully entertaining and inventive novel. By George is the twisting
About the Author
Born in Hastings, educated at Cambridge, Wesley Stace is also known as the musician John Wesley Harding.