Finding himself penniless, Lionel Savage married for money, and six months into the marriage, he hates his wife and inspiration has deserted him. Lionel is a rather well-known poet, but hasn't written anything since the beautiful Vivien Lancaster became his wife. Today is the day when he has finally decided to take action: Lionel will do away with himself. However, he needs to think of a practical way to do it so as not to inconvenience the help, and while on a walk he inadvertently makes a powerful new friend whom he brings to tea, and THE GENTLEMAN in question is the one and only Satan! But upon arriving home, it turns out Vivien has vanished, things seem to be looking up for Lionel, until he starts in horror at what he might have blurted out to The Devil. Then Lionel's sister Lizzie arrives, she was kicked out of boarding school because of a randy tryst, and on her heels -- blasted bad luck -- is Vivien's brother Ashley, and thus this odd trio, along with the Savages' faithful butler Simmons, set out to find Vivien.

In my opinion, the best pastiches are penned by writers of immeasurable talent, and that is precisely what Forrest Leo has achieved with THE GENTLEMAN. I was astounded to learn that Mr. Leo is but 25 years old, and this novel is his debut offering. Forrest Leo exhibits a mastery of the English language that is seldom achieved. As pointed out in the blurb, Monty Python does come to mind, as THE GENTLEMAN shares the unmistakable British zaniness of the English comedians, which is even more remarkable given the fact that Mr. Leo is American. The plot of THE GENTLEMAN extremely ingenious, the characters so vividly described that I could even hear the timbre and tone of their voices, as they bantered and bickered in the wildly witty dialogues. The footnotes by Hubert Lancaster, Vivien's cousin and fictional editor of Lionel's retelling of his adventures, are a total hoot, as Hubert relentlessly contradicts Lionel's story.

THE GENTLEMAN is a dazzling, demented and brilliant adventure story which unfolds at breakneck speed, and whose strengths lie in the superlative writing and the meticulously accurate depiction of Victorian London. I was impressed that Mr. Leo even went as far as use English spelling throughout without one single misstep as well as Victorian turns of phrases, which lent authenticity to the tale, all crucial in my eyes, as it is told from Lionel's point of view. Simply put: THE GENTLEMAN essentially captures the essence of English eccentricity at its finest. There is also one unforgettable moment which features a "flying machine" where the description of the scene is so flawless that I could imagine myself amongst the onlookers, lost in wonder and awe. While it is obvious that a lot of excruciating research went into THE GENTLEMAN, I also suspect that Forrest Leo is quite the learned gentleman himself, and I hope that this amazing book has landed on the desk of someone important at the BBC...

From rather early on in THE GENTLEMAN, I was already looking forward to future books by Mr. Leo, and upon the most delightful ending, I feel I might not be hoping in vain, as the possibility of at least another book in what would be a most welcome series seems a probability, and I couldn't be happier at the thought. THE GENTLEMAN is a brilliantly funny, dazzlingly written novel, and I could not recommend it highly enough!

Book Summary

A funny, fantastically entertaining debut novel, in the spirit of Wodehouse and Monty Python, about a famous poet who inadvertently sells his wife to the devil--then recruits a band of adventurers to rescue her.

When Lionel Savage, a popular poet in Victorian London, learns from his butler that they're broke, he marries the beautiful Vivien Lancaster for her money, only to find that his muse has abandoned him.

Distraught and contemplating suicide, Savage accidentally conjures the Devil -- the polite "Gentleman" of the title -- who appears at one of the society parties Savage abhors. The two hit it off: the Devil talks about his home, where he employs Dante as a gardener; Savage lends him a volume of Tennyson. But when the party's over and Vivien has disappeared, the poet concludes in horror that he must have inadvertently sold his wife to the dark lord.

Newly in love with Vivian, Savage plans a rescue mission to Hell that includes Simmons, the butler; Tompkins, the bookseller; Ashley Lancaster, swashbuckling Buddhist; Will Kensington, inventor of a flying machine; and Savage's spirited kid sister, Lizzie, freshly booted from boarding school for a "dalliance." Throughout, his cousin's quibbling footnotes to the text push the story into comedy nirvana.

Lionel and his friends encounter trapdoors, duels, anarchist-fearing bobbies, the social pressure of not knowing enough about art history, and the poisonous wit of his poetical archenemy. Fresh, action-packed and very, very funny, The Gentleman is a giddy farce that recalls the masterful confections of P.G. Wodehouse and Hergé's beautifully detailed Tintin adventures.