Toby Litt is recognized for his exploration of the boundaries of sexuality and masculinity through a penetrating and often provocative style. His works delve into themes of identity, desire, and the complexities of human connection, frequently set against distinct and atmospheric backdrops. Litt's approach to writing is marked by its unflinching honesty and ability to reveal intimate truths about the human experience, offering readers an unforgettable and thought-provoking journey.
Set in a world beyond the grave, two boys, Edwin Paine and Charles Rowland, embrace their love for adventure and mysteries as exceptional detectives. Their unique perspective as deceased boys adds an intriguing twist to their escapades. As they navigate the afterlife, they explore themes of curiosity and friendship, engaging in thrilling investigations that blend the ordinary with the extraordinary.
Edwin Paine and Charles Roland have a lot in common - they re both English schoolboys who love a good detective story, and they ve been known to dabble in mystery-solving themselves. They re also both dead, a condition which has proven to be less of a hindrance than one might think.
A Writer's Diary is a novel that blends fact and fiction, invention and memoir with joyful creativity and remarkable literary ambition. In it, Toby Litt takes on some of the biggest questions of life and death, not to mention literary as well as human mortality and the steady march of time. At first, A Writer's Diary appears to be exactly what it claims to be. It is a daily summary of the events in a person called Toby Litt's life: his thoughts on creating literature, his concerns for his family and the people he teaches, his musings on the various things that catch his attention around his desk and his immediate surroundings... But as it progresses, questions start to arise. Is this fact? Or is it fiction? (And if it's both, which is which?) Is this a book about quotidian daily routines - one person's days as they unspool - or is something more going on? Is there something even larger taking shape? ... And so, seemingly by magic, an increasingly urgent narrative starts to build - a
Elliott is something of a genius. More than that, Elliott is an ideal friend, and to know him is to adore him. But few people do know Elliott, because he is also stuck. He lives in a wheelchair in an orphanage. It's 1979. Elliott is forced to spend his days in an empty corridor, either gazing out of the window at the birds in a tree or staring into a white wall wherever the Catholic Sisters who run the ward have decided to park him. So when Jim, blind and mute but also headstrong, arrives on the ward and begins to defy the Sisters' restrictive rules, Elliott finally sees a chance for escape.
Toby Litt is one of that rare breed of fiction writers who never writes the same book twice: every time out, he takes an unexpected new tack--and his readers happily follow. Told in the form of the pithy, even lyrical advice a young soldier leaves behind after a mission gone wrong, Notes for a Young Gentleman is no exception. Its brilliantly creative form, and the epigrammatic genius Litt displays in its creation, nonetheless can't hide the powerful, emotional story at its heart: of a young soldier parachuting toward a beautiful, moonlit country house on a mission . . . of betrayal. The house? Marlborough. The target? Winston Churchill, an old friend of his father. A brilliant, at times dizzying but always heartfelt exploration of love, revenge, and the essence of a gentleman, Notes for a Young Gentleman is classic Toby Litt: wholly new and wholly unforgettable.
Toby Litt's ancestor, William Litt, was a champion Cumberland Wrestler but also almost certainly a smuggler - and definitely published poet and novelist. A huge and fascinating man, William was also troubling: he ended his life in poverty and exile. Using the nineteenth century as a guide, Wrestliana asks vital questions about modern-day masculinity, competition, and success. It is a beautiful portrait of two men and their different worlds, full of surprises and sympathy, and a wonderful evocation of a lost place and time.
The collection features twenty-six essays exploring various topics, including the writing process and the influence of technology on literature. Litt's unique voice shines through, defying traditional formats and showcasing his curiosity. Each essay is crafted to resonate deeply, contributing to an overarching manifesto advocating for more unconventional and bold storytelling. The work reflects Litt's inventive spirit, merging his hip-lit style with insightful nonfiction to challenge and expand the boundaries of fiction.
A Tale of the Children's Crusade
"For the first time, the two-issue miniseries THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE, written by Neil Gaiman, Alisa Kwitney and Jamie Delano, are collected - and with them, a new chapter written by Toby Litt that completes the tale as Gaiman originally envisioned it. When several children go missing in a small English town, the Dead Boy Detectives are on the case. A series of strange and unexpected twists take them to Free Country, a place that dates back a millennia, where children never grow old and are free from the abuse and tyranny of adults. But Free Country is failing, and what it needs is the strength of five innately powerful children - including the young sorcerer Timothy Hunter - to restore their uncanny world to what it once was. This hardcover collects THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE #1 and THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE #2, written by Gaiman with cowriters Alisa Kwitney and Jamie Delano. A brand-new middle chapter written by DEAD BOY DETECTIVES writer Toby Litt and drawn artist Peter Gross (THE BOOKS OF MAGIC, THE UNWRITTEN) completes this compelling tale of ancient history, stolen dreams and lost children. Also featuring a new introduction by Gaiman, plus new cover art by DEAD BOY DETECTIVES artist Mark Buckingham"--
A collection of short stories that is about our globalizing and atomizing world - with stories set in India, Sweden, Australia, and Iran - that also looks at how we meet and fail to meet and what connects us to one another, as well as waste and communication, and, in turn, communication through waste.
A computer programmer feels reasonably satisfied with his life until he is sent with his colleague, the sexually-frustrated Raphael Tisserand, to train provincial civil servants on a new computer system.
