“[An] imaginative first novel, the beguiling and unsettling tale of an obese Englishman, a young girl, a Slovakian shoemaker and an ice cream man.”—Publishers Weekly
Theobald Moon lives in a lonely corner of the Arizona desert, tending his spectacular cactus garden, his tiny mobile home, and his astounding appetite. He has fled a stifled, cardigan-and-tea-cozy life in south London for this unfamiliar country, and is raising his daughter, Josephine, who has known no other life than their cheerful yet isolated American one.
But when a jangling ice-cream truck finds its way into the desert carrying two ill-fated lovers—a pregnant Slovakian shoemaker and a mysterious ice-cream man—it throws Theo’s and Josie’s careful lives into a chaotic state for which they’re totally unprepared. Fantastic upheaval ensues, as well as an inspired redemption. Innovative, funny, and profound, this “heartfelt and stylish” novel (The Times) explores love and responsibility, and the joys and fears they inspire.
