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Lord and Lady McIntosh live in a remote and dilapidated castle, making their living from the Laird\u2019s academic work (though, as Bogdan gleefully reminds us on several occasions, his Classics specialism is no match for the Lady\u2019s engineering background when it comes to dealing with the pragmatic reality of a house crumbling around them) and the rental of holiday cottages on their estate. When a group of bankers from London want to rent out a larger space for a weekend of team-building, the McIntoshes\u2019 housekeeper dusts off a ramshackle wing of the castle, but inadvertently breaks her ankle while dancing to ABBA with her Henry vacuum cleaner, rendering her incapable of finishing the extensive cleaning operation. This is the kind of slapstick that abounds in The Peacock<\/em>, and with the housekeeper incapacitated, the Laird and Lady must prepare for their guests from the Big Smoke alone, with hilarious consequences.<\/p>\n So the housekeeper needs help tying her shoelaces, the shower in the guest wing emits the barest trickle of water, the goose leaves her droppings everywhere, and one of the peacocks sees anything blue and shiny as a rival that must be attacked instantly. The uptight bank boss arrives in an immaculately polished blue car (you can see the imminent peril) and promptly steps in goose poop. Her team are dismayed to find they are sharing not only the inadequate shower but also bedrooms (and must navigate \u2013 with varying success \u2013 the hazards of bunk beds: \u201cLying on the floor in his pyjamas in front of the boss and blubbering because he\u2019d fallen out of a bunk bed and couldn\u2019t get up. It didn\u2019t get much more mortifying than that\u201d), but at least the cook they brought with them provides a steady stream of comforting food. Just don\u2019t ask too many questions about the plucked bird hanging in the larder. The young psychiatrist charged with leading the team-building exercises has a tough task ahead of her, and it\u2019s about to get even tougher when there is a mutiny, the discovery of a hastily-concealed shotgun, a murdered bird and a snowfall so severe that they are stranded in the castle. With a power cut. Thank goodness for the al fresco hot tub, where new complicities will be formed\u2026<\/p>\n The atmosphere is one of wild abandonment, but it is carefully constructed, full of ironic one-liners and to-the-point character sketches (\u201cthe boss had a particular knack for making her opinion extremely clear\u201d; \u201cAndrew didn\u2019t speak about his inner conflicts. Jim didn\u2019t have any\u201d) and well thought through to make the improbable and the absurd entirely believable. Annie Rutherford\u2019s translation is spot-on: it has meticulous attention to language in context (I was particularly delighted to see the phrase \u201ca lick and a promise\u201d, an expression I remember so vividly from childhood), yet maintains the glorious mayhem that characterises the story. I also really enjoyed the translator\u2019s note at the end: this is a feature of V&Q Books, and a very welcome one, offering insight into the challenges and resolutions of the translation process. The Peacock <\/em>is a best-selling, blockbusting book that sits well within the V&Q catalogue and is translated with humour and versatility. If you\u2019re looking for some escapist enjoyment, then look no further.<\/p>\n Translated from German by Annie Rutherford (V&Q Books, 2021) A funny, feel-good comedy of errors featuring characters ranging from the eccentric to the neurotic, a rambling castle in the Scottish Highlands, and a peacock gone rogue? Yes please. The Peacock felt like the book I\u2019ve been waiting for \u2013 something to lift me out of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[97,375,459,951,1023],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nReview copy of\u00a0The Peacock\u00a0<\/em>provided by V&Q Books<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"