The York Deviation

Not many novels have Margaret Thatcher as a hero. Here is one of them.

Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, Tory-Boy Satanists, insane anti-American scientists, an army of hungry Lizards-from-beyond-the-Void. An asteroid impact.

Yes, it's the University of York in 1981 - though not as anyone now alive remembers it!

Edward Parker is a right-wing hypochondriac with a weight problem. Falling asleep one night as an ageing and ever-so-slightly failed barrister, he wakes in his youthful body, back in those moderately golden days of yore.

It's a dream. It's surely a dream. In great things and in little, everything seems at first exactly as it had been.

Only it isn't.

As the dream unfolds, and shows no appearance of ending, deviation after deviation from the remembered past accumulate, and settle into the appearance of a coherent narrative.

But where is this taking young Edward Parker? What is his old "friend" Michael Clarvin up to? Where have all his real friends gone? Who is "The Undertaker"? What horror lurks beneath the Temple of Isis being uncovered near the Main Library? Why is Professor Fairburn so desperate to lay hands on its power? What does he eat?

And can Margaret Thatcher become all-powerful?

If you were there, take this as the ultimate Walk Down Memory Lane. If you weren't, probably be grateful....

Praise for Other Novels by Sean Gabb, (writing as Richard Blake):

"Fascinating to read, very well written, an intriguing plot and I enjoyed it very much." (Derek Jacobi, star of I Claudius and Gladiator)

"Vivid characters, devious plotting and buckets of gore are enhanced by his unfamiliar choice of period.... Nasty, fun and educational." (The Daily Telegraph)

"He knows how to deliver a fast-paced story and his grasp of the period is impressively detailed." (The Mail on Sunday)

"A rollicking and raunchy read . . . Anyone who enjoys their history with large dollops of action, sex, intrigue and, above all, fun will absolutely love this novel." (Historical Novels)

"It would be hard to over-praise this extraordinary series, a near-perfect blend of historical detail and atmosphere with the plot of a conspiracy thriller, vivid characters, high philosophy and vulgar comedy." (The Morning Star)

Sean Gabb is an historian, broadcaster and university lecturer. His other novels, written under the pen-name "Richard Blake," have been translated into Spanish, Italian, Greek, Slovak, Hungarian, Chinese and Indonesian. He lives in Kent with his wife and daughter.