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Christopher Shevlin

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Christopher Shevlin

Goodreads Author


Born
in Stafford, The United Kingdom
December 31

Website

Twitter

Genre

Influences

Member Since
June 2012


Christopher Shevlin is, essentially, an older, bearded and slightly shorter version of Jonathon Fairfax. He grew up in Yorkshire and spent his whole adult life in London, before going to Berlin to write his second novel, Jonathon Fairfax Must Be Destroyed. The book is set in London.

When life is hard, he has always turned to books for comfort. His favourites include his battered old Jeeves Omnibus, Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently books, 1066 And All That, the Molesworth books, and Augustus Carp By Himself. His ambition is to write books that are even a tenth as comfortingly odd.

To find out more about Christopher Shevlin, his books, and the disturbingly assertive squirrels of Helsinki, please visit www.christophershevlin.com

(Author photo by Matth
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Popular Answered Questions

Christopher Shevlin Oh, um, hello Joel. Yes, yes I do. I’m just trying to finish the second draft of the third book now. This one’s set in Berlin, and is meant to be a bi…moreOh, um, hello Joel. Yes, yes I do. I’m just trying to finish the second draft of the third book now. This one’s set in Berlin, and is meant to be a bit like The Spy Who Came In From The Cold crossed with The Bourne Identity, but stupider, and with Jonathon in it. You’d be very welcome to be a test reader when I’ve finished it, which means you'd get a free early copy.

I’m really glad you liked the first book. And thanks for negotiating the minefield of things and ends – I think yours is the first Goodreads question I’ve ever had. Happy new year and so forth, Chris.(less)
Christopher Shevlin Hello Stephanie, I've just heard that the audiobook edition's out today. Sorry it's taken so long – I didn't realise it'd been delayed again. Anyway, …moreHello Stephanie, I've just heard that the audiobook edition's out today. Sorry it's taken so long – I didn't realise it'd been delayed again. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it if you do decide to listen. I hope it's at least as good as gnat meth.(less)
Average rating: 4.04 · 9,197 ratings · 544 reviews · 8 distinct worksSimilar authors
The Perpetual Astonishment ...

3.78 avg rating — 4,816 ratings — published 2012
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Jonathon Fairfax Must Be De...

4.33 avg rating — 2,085 ratings — published 2017 — 2 editions
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The Spy Who Came in from th...

4.29 avg rating — 1,508 ratings
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The Fairfax Redemption: A J...

4.46 avg rating — 580 ratings2 editions
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The Pursuit of Coconuts

4.10 avg rating — 198 ratings2 editions
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Penguin Writers Guide Writi...

4.17 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 2005 — 2 editions
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A Simple Guide to E-mail

it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2002
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Jonathon Fairfax (2 Book Se...

it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings
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More books by Christopher Shevlin…

On mishearing myself in a dream

I had a dream last night in which I bumped into a friend in a shop. She said she’d just come from a new women’s yoga studio called HerLimberLimbs. ‘Hurlimbalims?’ I said, not understanding what I’d just heard. ‘Her Limber Limbs,’ she said slowly and clearly. ‘Oh! Right,’ I said. ‘Good name.’ Isn’t that a […]

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Published on February 07, 2025 07:43
The Perpetual Astonishment ... Jonathon Fairfax Must Be De... The Spy Who Came in from th...
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4.01 avg rating — 8,408 ratings

The Perpetual Astonishment ... Jonathon Fairfax Must Be De... The Spy Who Came in from th...
(3 books)
by
4.01 avg rating — 8,408 ratings

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Quotes by Christopher Shevlin  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“Both still stood in the same positions, ready to deal with a conversation, should one break out.”
Christopher Shevlin, The Perpetual Astonishment of Jonathon Fairfax

“Well, I've got tomorrow morning off, so I thought I might spend that thinking about her. Basically, my plan is to maybe just romantically obsess over her but not really do anything about it.”
Christopher Shevlin, The Perpetual Astonishment of Jonathon Fairfax

“Home’s all right for a visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.”
Christopher Shevlin, The Perpetual Astonishment of Jonathon Fairfax

“The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.”
Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams

“Thus it has come about that our theoretical and critical literature, instead of giving plain, straightforward arguments in which the author at least always knows what he is saying and the reader what he is reading, is crammed with jargon, ending at obscure crossroads where the author loses its readers. Sometimes these books are even worse: they are just hollow shells. The author himself no longer knows just what he is thinking and soothes himself with obscure ideas which would not satisfy him if expressed in plain speech.”
Carl von Clausewitz

“One needs no particular talent to be polite. On the contrary, being nice is what's left when you've failed at everything else.”
Diane Setterfield, The Thirteenth Tale

“Beethoven tells you what it's like to be Beethoven and Mozart tells you what it's like to be human. Bach tells you what it's like to be the universe.”
Douglas Adams

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