Humorous new book entitled LADDIES AND GENERALMEN by Paul Gubbins is published

July 4, 2012 - PRLog -- In this witty and topical novel a Chinese student finds himself out of language, out of money and out of step when he arrives in Britain to start a post-graduate course at a city university. In desperation, he turns for help to a Chinese businessman who befriended him at the airport - with disastrous results. The student disappears and his university tutor calls in the police to investigate. Meanwhile people other than the police are investigating the university for a disappearance of an altogether different kind....

About the Book:  

Paul Gubbins is an editor, writer and journalist who has published widely in the international language Esperanto. This is his first novel in English. He lives in the northwest of England with his wife, two cats and a garden railway.

Excerpt from the book:

“‘Mesdames, messieurs…’ an Air France voice cackled. ‘Laddies and generalmen, we’ll come to Cramcastair…’

A ripple of relief, Wang thought, passed through the aircraft. Cramcaster. He turned to his neighbour, a smartly-dressed woman of a certain age wearing several layers of make-up and an expression that told everyone she ought to be in club class, and mouthed the three syllables that spelled liberation from the CIA and the prison whose name he couldn’t remember.

‘Cram-cas-ter…?’

‘Oui, oui,’ the woman replied, looking for the first time at her fellow passenger and feeling uncharacteristic pity for the moist and jaundiced creature next to her – l’opium, n’est-ce pas, c’est ça le plaisir des chinois – and confirmed with a curt nod: ‘Cramcastair.’

Wang’s face lit into a smile wide enough to embrace Tiananmen Square.
‘You very kind,’ he told the woman. ‘And now you please tell me… what mean generalmen? And “we’ll come to Cramcaster”… why no present perfect… how textbook teach?’

The woman, whose English was limited, frowned. It was possible the young man was asking her to convey opiates into Britain. Despite an occasional flutter at Chantilly races, Madame’s interest in quadrupeds did not extend to mules – still less drug mules.

‘Non, non,’ she bristled. ‘Je regrette…’ Then, having unfastened her seatbelt, she folded the copy of Le Monde she had been reading and tucked it into a neat but copious bag.

Generalmen, pondered Wang, resolving to key this mystery into his electronic dictionary as soon as an opportunity arose. Then he recalled immediately, to his annoyance, that the device was in the other suitcase. Generalmen would have to wait.”


LADDIES AND GENERALMEN can be ordered from New Generation Publishing (click the link)

and from Amazon.co.uk (click the link)

as well as from Barnes & Noble (click the link)

Media Contact:

Publisher:  New Generation Publishing
Contact:  Daniel Cooke
E-mail:  daniel@newgenerationpublishing.info
Tel.:   01933 665 340