Midlands

by James Harris, Ke Zuo (Illustrator)

Midlands tells a story in two parts. In Part One, comedian Stuart Holmes, famous in his adopted homeland of Germany, is preparing for a corporate engagement in Hamburg. He finds himself drawn into memories of a weekend tour several years previously with his friend Dougie McCallum across Southwest Germany. Dougie’s and Stuart’s tour is retold in flashbacks; they drink, they joke, they flirt with a variety of strangers. All the while, Stuart recalls the artistic failure and nervous breakdown of his university days that inspired his move to Germany.

Part Two begins in Berlin in the early 2010s. Local micro-celebrity Dave Benson, author of ‘The Misanthrope’s Digest,’ a daily blog collating bad news from around the world, is bracing himself for another Prussian winter and mourning his broken engagement. Then he receives an email from his former fiancée Anna Berry, a wry and ambitious young Midwestern American now returned to Chicago, U.S.A., inviting him to meet once again in Luxembourg, where Anna is visiting on business.

'Midlands' is a novel about love, comedy, growing up and living abroad. It is a coming-of-age story and a funny comic novel too.

James Harris has written for The Spectator, The New European and JewThink, and has been a stand-up comedian for twenty years across Europe. This is his debut novel.

The book has also been supplied with 12 beautiful illustrations by the graphic artist Ke Zuo.

453 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 7, 2022

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