Comic golf novel ‘Summer at Tagents’ enjoys critical acclaim

Roderick Easdale’s recently published comic golf novel, Summer at Tangents, published by Brindle Books, has been receiving rave reviews in the national press.

The author has been compared to Wodehouse and Waugh by Country Life; Golf Monthly called it “a superb comic novel”, Golfshake “a brilliant comic novel,” and Golf Today wrote that “Roderick Easdale effortlessly delivers in this witty, feel-good novel.”

For the publishers, Brindle Books, it justifies their decision to publish a work outside of their usual field. Head of the Yorkshire-based publishing house, Richard Hinchcliffe, explains: “Roderick Easdale’s Summer At Tangents takes us into new territory as a publishing house. Our output to date has comprised mainly of Action Adventure, Thrillers, Dark Fantasy/Sci-Fi and True Crime.

“It was a surprise then, to be confronted, a few months ago, with a comic novel. I had not really given much thought to publishing anything outside of the aforementioned genres. But as soon as I had read the manuscript, I was determined that we would publish this book.”

The novel is set in Tangents, a decaying English village with a poorly attended church and a struggling golf club. When the church is threatened with closure, the vicar’s good friend, a wily golf club committee member, acts to save the church in ways which also benefit the club and his friends and involve duping almost everyone along the way. 

This is a world the author is familiar with, having worked as a golf journalist for a quarter of century and having been a member of six golf clubs. He has written five non-fiction books, one of which was about PG Wodehouse’s novels, but this is his debut novel.  

To order a copy of Summer at Tangents, which is priced at £8.99 on Amazon, click here.