The Brandy of the Damned

by J.M.R. Higgs

Russell, Penny and Will have not seen each other for twenty years. Why, then, do they spend a month driving around the coast of Britain in a van refusing to listen to music? Why do they find little blue bottles washing up on the shore containing pages from a future Bible? And why is Penny carrying such a huge spade?

Funny, surprising and good-hearted, The Brandy of the Damned is a dream-like short novel that leaves the reader strangely grounded and which reveals different things each time it is read. It is the literary equivalent of stepping off the path and heading out into the woods, knowing that if you can't see what's ahead you are never bored. The Brandy of the Damned is a genuinely original story told by a unique voice.

Genres: Fiction, Music

Kindle Edition

First published May 24, 2012

Reviews

[Jason Arnopp · Rating 5 out of 5]

An increasingly mesmerising hybrid of engaging travelogue and unsettling genre elements, The Brandy Of The Damned defies categorisation. It sees three former members of a rock band head off on a tour-van journey around the coast of Britain, for reasons which escape them. We learn their motives as they do. Why's one of them carrying a shovel? Why's another of them so obsessed with bottles which wash up on the shore, containing pages from a future Bible? To say more about any of this stuff would be to spoiler, but TBOTD is sure to surprise and move you.

At one point towards the end, I felt like I'd been shown one of nature's great hidden secrets. Surely there can be no higher recommendation than that. Buy this book and become part of the early groundswell of recommendation which is sure to propel it from Kindle to Kindle to Kindle.

[Alex Sarll]

From John Higgs' early, less successful days as a novelist, a book which nevertheless echoes the concerns of his non-fiction, with three people who used to be in a band together driving around the coast of Britain in a van, on the grounds that all the good quests were already taken but it's better to complete a shit quest than no quest at all. Listening to no music the whole time, for reasons initially even less defined, but that's still distinctly Drummond, isn't it? Finding, as they go, fragments of what seems to be a new Bible, whose voice is if anything closer to that just-on-the-edge-of-whimsical Higgs we know from his finest musings, albeit skirting a little closer here to the abyss of the twee. Elsewhere, though, are odd lines which would still be right at home – "East Anglia is funny, but it is also epic, and anything that is funny and epic at the same time can't be a bad thing." It's a book about thresholds, and time ("The passing years make all girls grow to look like their mother. Whereas, the same years make all men look more and more like potatoes."), and how far you can ever know another person. By the end, it maybe runs a little more prescriptive than altogether suits Higgs, but then any honest writer will be more certain in their fiction than their non-fiction, because in fiction they address a wholly knowable world. And it's a perfect book to begin on the last day of a job, and finish on the first day of an unknown future, which is handy, really.

[Craig White · Rating 5 out of 5]

You Don't Carry A Shovel.........
...unless you're going to use it! Russell carries the emotional baggage, Will carries the common sense bible (which is maybe from the future - maybe not), but Penny holds all the aces, she carries the shovel! it's 20 years since the moderately successful band, they were the components of, broke up, so what do you do? you load up the old tour van to take a coastal circuit of a Britain of the mind, and a trip with rules that have to be adhered to! of course you do.....
this is the 6th John Higgs book I have read in 2017 (possibly in a unique order), and as well as being a thoroughly compelling writer, he has been responsible for me spending more money on the likes of Robert Anton Wilson, Alan Moore and The Principia Discordia, which have all further expanded on the themes of his work, opening up a whole new world of print for me, so, genuinely, thankyou John!
that's all. carry on!

[Nick Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three former band mates, years later head off on a road trip with no apparent reason. What they discover along the way makes even less sense, while being incredibly eye-opening and prophetic.
How do you review a book like this, which is so perfect and yet so bizarre? Fair warning, you need to be in absolutely the right mind-space to read this. It would be far too easy to write it off as bizarre or nonsensical. It’s a tale of redemption, hurt feelings, regrets, friendship, enemies, loss... basically adulthood. But at the same time, maybe it’s none of those things. This is the kind of book in which the right reader will get exactly what they need from it, and I’m sure each reading at different points in life will reveal a different story.
It’s like if House of Leaves was written by Nick Hornby... and that’s a beautiful thing.

[Dan Sumption · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun read - I got through it in one session - about a group of old friends who reunite for a drive around the coastline of Britain. On the way, things get weird. Very weird.

[Traceys · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book as a first read from good reads .

What can I say it's confusing, intriguing , thought provoking, still don't quite understand it and may have to read again to try to understand it completely!!

I loved the details of there journey describing the landscape and places they visit, also the characthers had very different personalities. I really took to will especially a big conversation he had with penny really made me think.

I would say its a different read to my usual vampire, romantic, angst style books but still enjoyable, even as I'm typing it's still playing in my head trying to figure the meaning if there is one!!

[Jonny Boyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Light on plot, but this surreal book has a lot to offer in terms of thought on relationships, music, religion and life in general. Our three protagonists are fairly unlikeable at first but reveal more depth as the book progresses. I imagine I will come back to this book in the future for a re-read.

[Ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a great book. It was like Haruki Murakami in that it's a journey of a novel. It's witty, charming, confusing, unbelievable and endearing. It's about nothing and everything and it defies expectations. I read the whole thing in one sitting (although the work I was supposed to be doing kept trying to get in the way).

[Mitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible road trip

The road trip Higgs describes is the one all artists take at some point in their lives. It is a magical trek through dreams and wishes and, ultimately, music.