The Body in the Mobile Library: and other stories

by Peter Bradshaw

'Staggering and unforgettable storytelling' Mel Giedroyc

In his retirement at the Vatican City, emeritus pope Benedict XVI is hard at work on his magnum a high-school comedy screenplay.

At a grimy pub in North London, a doctoral researcher is abducted by gangsters peddling William Wordsworth's handwritten account of drug-fuelled sex orgies.

In the West African state of Benin, a politician's daughter inherits a large cash sum which she can only launder with the help of a random Englishman sourced on the internet.

With twenty-one deliciously observed, gloriously mischievous short stories – some previously narrated on BBC Radio 4 or published in literary magazines, others completely new – Peter Bradshaw explores the boundary between the plausible and the absurd, often with a laugh-out-loud gag up his sleeve.

Amid the playfulness, he has an enduring warmth and sympathy for every character, however hapless. He offers pinpricks of light in a dark sky of confusion and pain.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

Published April 11, 2024

About the author

Peter Bradshaw is a British writer and film critic. He was a pupil at the independent Haberdashers' Aske's school in Hertfordshire,[1] and studied Modern Languages at Cambridge University, where he was president of Footlights.
Bradshaw is the film critic for The Guardian. Before joining The Guardian, Bradshaw was employed by the Evening Standard for whom he wrote a series of parodic diary entries purporting to written by the Conservative MP and historian Alan Clark which he thought deceptive and were the subject of a court case resolved in January 1998. The court found in Clark's favour, granting an injunction, deciding that Bradshaw's articles were then being published in a form that "a substantial number of readers" would believe they were genuinely being written by Alan Clark.[2] Bradshaw found it "the most bizarre and surreal business of my professional life. I'm very flattered that Mr Clark should go to all this trouble and expense in suing me like this."[3]
Peter Bradshaw has written a novel, Dr Sweet and his Daughter, published in 2004. He also wrote and performed a BBC radio programme titled For One Horrible Moment, recorded 10 October 1998 and first broadcast 20 January 1999. The programme chronicled a young man's coming of age in 1970s Cambridgeshire. He also co-wrote and acted in David Baddiel's sitcom Baddiel's Syndrome.

Reviews

[Leonie · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I read a short story collection, I mark the stories I've most enjoyed with a post-it. The Body in the Mobile Library and other stories by Peter Bradshaw earned eight post-its. The stories range from funny to downright chilling. I would love to see a longer version of Half-Conscious of the Joy, possibly even as a film. All in all, warmly recommended.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of short stories by the chief film critic at The Guardian. Some of the stories have been broadcast on Radio 4. Sometimes playful verging on the absurd, sometimes unsettling, this is a varied collection, in which the characters include Satan after the soul of an unsuccessful playwright, an African politician's daughter trying to launder a large inheritance, a jaded middle-aged sports journalist totally mistaking the motives of an attractive young colleague who agrees to have dinner with him, and the retired Pope Benedict XVI trying to get his brand new screenplay of an American high school romcom accepted for production. I enjoyed the collection a lot.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading Stephen King’s book of short stories I turned to this collection by film critic Peter Bradshaw. The Body in the Mobile Library, a take off on an Agatha Christie tale, is supposedly tales of horror, but the collection is more surreal, strange, darkly comic, and bizarre than scary. Still, these 21 short stories did pique my interest and keep me entertained. And when I was bewildered, it was the good sorta of confusion. Whereas King uses narrative to capture his readers’ imagination, Bradshaw uses images.

[Timur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great ideas. Sketches some of which would benefit from stretching out to a longer form.

[Ian Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great short story collection. Good variety and fun to read.