'There are prizes, normally named after PG Wodehouse, given to literary comic novels and non-fiction, and these books will have blurbs saying "hilarious" on them. This is infinitely funnier than any of them'
DAVID BADDIEL
'
The funniest series of books ever written in the English language'
RICHARD OSMAN
'Hilarious'
THE TIMES
'Absolute f**king genius'
CAITLIN MORAN
'With a genuine belly laugh to be found on almost every page, it only cements Partridge's status as the world's greatest comedy character
EMPIRE
'Partridge... has become the man our time deserves. Aha!
' THE TIMES
'This is a deeply silly book. It's also glorious...[with] proper belly laughs on pretty much every page'
i NEWS
'Every sentence screams pure Partridge...a spoof that comes close to comic genius' DAILY EXPRESS
'Expect plenty of laughs'
HEAT
'Not only has Alan Partridge created an entirely new storytelling structure, it's very funny indeed
' JON RONSON
In
Big Beacon
, Norwich's favourite son and best broadcaster, Alan Partridge, triumphs against the odds. TWICE.
Using an innovative 'dual narrative' structure you sometimes see in films,
tells the story of how Partridge heroically rebuilt his TV career, rising like a phoenix from the desolate wasteland of local radio to climb to the summit of Mount Primetime and regain the nationwide prominence his talent merits.
But then something quite unexpected and moving, because
also tells the story of a selfless man, driven to restore an old lighthouse to its former glory, motivated by nothing more than respect for a quietly heroic old building that many take for granted, which some people think is a metaphor for Alan himself even though it's not really for them to say.*
Leaving his old life behind and relocating to a small coastal village in Kent, Alan battles through adversity, wins the hearts and minds of a suspicious community, and ultimately shows himself to be a quite wonderful man.
* The two strands will run in tandem, their narrative arcs mirroring each other to make the parallels between the two stories abundantly clear to the less able reader.