The Eggman's Apprentice

Nov 29, 2025 7:10 AM

Author:Maurice Leitch

Orphaned at a cruelly young age, little Hugo Dinsmore is torn from his pampered life and plunged into the nightmare world of brutish country relatives, a world where his refined ways and small stature are a constant source of mockery and torment. Survival means learning to be sly, and Hugo soon finds his talents for retribution and petty thieving. His pure singing voice soon brings him to the attention of the Eggman, a much-feared local gangster who gets Hugo to perform for him and his cronies at their late-night poker sessions. Hugo becomes a well-dressed mascot, travelling with the Eggman and his enforcers in the back of a pink Cadillac. Gradually he breaks away from his old, wretched life, but as the Eggman's grip tightens and a criminal price must be paid for all the fine clothes, Hugo decides to make a spectacular and hazardous break for freedom.

Reviews

Leitch's prose style is reminiscent of Graham Greene, and Hugo's transformation from pampered child to scheming bully is genuinely chilling

—— Clover Hughes , Observer

A master of romantic storytelling, Charlotte Bingham weaves a spell of love, loss and mystery in the midst of wartime peril.

—— The Good Book Guide, Oct 2007

Kadare's delicately misted view of another world (as much internal as totalitarian) lives up to the splendour of his title

—— Independent on Sunday

Inexorably takes your breath away

—— Herald

Sly and funny. A deeply pleasurable page-turner

—— Observer

It is Lurie, not Updike whom people will one day read to discover what our life and times were really like. Dazzling intelligent, witty, perceptive and engaging, she is not to be missed

—— New Statesman

Lurie is the reigning queen of a certain kind of academic comedy... Truth & Consequences is a deeply pleasurable page-turner

—— Rachel Cooke , Observer

Lurie's entertaining novel charts these symmetrical relationships with subtlety and compassion, and thoughtfully examines the balance of power between those who give and require care

—— Daily Mail

Lurie expertly maps the downward marital slope: the slow falling out of love, the undignified transformations of middle age, the interplay of eros and hypochondria... The author's satirical gifts are undiminished

—— Wall Street Journal

A story of modern love that will have readers laughing and sighing with recognition... A wry, insightful, thoroughly enjoyable tale about how men and women choose their demons and their lovers, and the sacrifices they're willing to make for both

—— Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Delightful... Her characters are, as always, wonderfully imperfect

—— New York Review of Books

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