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The Voices

Susan Elderkin
Sunset Over Chocolate Mountains

Susan Elderkin

When Theobald Moon hits 34, his mother dies and he decides to leave South London far behind and invest in a plot of land in Arizona. The photo he receives of "a strip of grit half an inch high flecked with tufts of grass" makes him wonder if "he'd bought a chunk of sky". Undeterred, he packs up his corduroys, hand-knitted cardigans and a supply of English sweets and heads off. In Theo, Susan Elderkin has created an amiable, vulnerable, fat and funny character, who beneath the "sun's reflective severity" of the Sonoran Desert discovers "a slight stretching of what he presumed to be his soul". Each morning, Theo drinks his own pee and performs yoga amongst his garden of cholla cacti and saguaros in a majestically different environment, which brings great change to the tender Mr Moon. Endearing and gently comic, Theo contrasts sharply with his cynical daughter, Josephine, who's wise beyond her years even at four. The novel follows her development from adoring child into sullen, embarrassed adolescent, with wry and cleverly observed detail and emotion. Josephine delights in her fairytale surroundings until she encounters a pair of golden high-heeled sandals and asks awkward questions about the whereabouts of her mother.
In a surprising but deftly handled switch, Elderkin takes the action to a Slovakian shoe factory where Eva Ligocka is about to fall madly in love with a travelling ice-cream vendor called Tibor, the only man who doesn't smell of leather. In the Eastern European sections, the writing itself becomes more beautifully polished. The fabulous and often hilarious journey that brings Eva to Theo's door is central to the novel.
The title which comes from an invented ice-cream flavour suggests something much more sweet and sentimental than what's offered in Elderkin's first novel. She pulls off the bizarre meeting between the incongruous characters with great delicacy and the book's tragedies are delivered with quiet, low-key assurance. A witty, charming and sensual debut that plays on many English-American differences, especially those around food. --Cherry Smyth
Sunset Over Chocolate Mountains

Susan Elderkin

When Theobald Moon hits 34, his mother dies and he decides to leave South London far behind and invest in a plot of land in Arizona. The photo he receives of "a strip of grit half an inch high flecked with tufts of grass" makes him wonder if "he'd bought a chunk of sky". Undeterred, he packs up his corduroys, hand-knitted cardigans and a supply of English sweets and heads off. In Theo, Susan Elderkin has created an amiable, vulnerable, fat and funny character, who beneath the "sun's reflective severity" of the Sonoran Desert discovers "a slight stretching of what he presumed to be his soul". Each morning, Theo drinks his own pee and performs yoga amongst his garden of cholla cacti and saguaros in a majestically different environment, which brings great change to the tender Mr Moon. Endearing and gently comic, Theo contrasts sharply with his cynical daughter, Josephine, who's wise beyond her years even at four. The novel follows her development from adoring child into sullen, embarrassed adolescent, with wry and cleverly observed detail and emotion. Josephine delights in her fairytale surroundings until she encounters a pair of golden high-heeled sandals and asks awkward questions about the whereabouts of her mother.
In a surprising but deftly handled switch, Elderkin takes the action to a Slovakian shoe factory where Eva Ligocka is about to fall madly in love with a travelling ice-cream vendor called Tibor, the only man who doesn't smell of leather. In the Eastern European sections, the writing itself becomes more beautifully polished. The fabulous and often hilarious journey that brings Eva to Theo's door is central to the novel.
The title which comes from an invented ice-cream flavour suggests something much more sweet and sentimental than what's offered in Elderkin's first novel. She pulls off the bizarre meeting between the incongruous characters with great delicacy and the book's tragedies are delivered with quiet, low-key assurance. A witty, charming and sensual debut that plays on many English-American differences, especially those around food. --Cherry Smyth
The Voices

Susan Elderkin
Sunset over Chocolate Mountain

Susan Elderkin
Atardecer en las Montanas de Chocolate / Sunset Over Chocolate Mountains

Susan Elderkin
The Voices, The

Susan Elderkin
The Voices

Susan Elderkin
The Voices

Susan Elderkin
Sunset Over Chocolate Mountains

Susan Elderkin

When Theobald Moon hits 34, his mother dies and he decides to leave South London far behind and invest in a plot of land in Arizona. The photo he receives of "a strip of grit half an inch high flecked with tufts of grass" makes him wonder if "he'd bought a chunk of sky". Undeterred, he packs up his corduroys, hand-knitted cardigans and a supply of English sweets and heads off. In Theo, Susan Elderkin has created an amiable, vulnerable, fat and funny character, who beneath the "sun's reflective severity" of the Sonoran Desert discovers "a slight stretching of what he presumed to be his soul". Each morning, Theo drinks his own pee and performs yoga amongst his garden of cholla cacti and saguaros in a majestically different environment, which brings great change to the tender Mr Moon. Endearing and gently comic, Theo contrasts sharply with his cynical daughter, Josephine, who's wise beyond her years even at four. The novel follows her development from adoring child into sullen, embarrassed adolescent, with wry and cleverly observed detail and emotion. Josephine delights in her fairytale surroundings until she encounters a pair of golden high-heeled sandals and asks awkward questions about the whereabouts of her mother.
In a surprising but deftly handled switch, Elderkin takes the action to a Slovakian shoe factory where Eva Ligocka is about to fall madly in love with a travelling ice-cream vendor called Tibor, the only man who doesn't smell of leather. In the Eastern European sections, the writing itself becomes more beautifully polished. The fabulous and often hilarious journey that brings Eva to Theo's door is central to the novel.
The title which comes from an invented ice-cream flavour suggests something much more sweet and sentimental than what's offered in Elderkin's first novel. She pulls off the bizarre meeting between the incongruous characters with great delicacy and the book's tragedies are delivered with quiet, low-key assurance. A witty, charming and sensual debut that plays on many English-American differences, especially those around food. --Cherry Smyth
Sunset Over Chocolate Mountains

Susan Elderkin

When Theobald Moon hits 34, his mother dies and he decides to leave South London far behind and invest in a plot of land in Arizona. The photo he receives of "a strip of grit half an inch high flecked with tufts of grass" makes him wonder if "he'd bought a chunk of sky". Undeterred, he packs up his corduroys, hand-knitted cardigans and a supply of English sweets and heads off. In Theo, Susan Elderkin has created an amiable, vulnerable, fat and funny character, who beneath the "sun's reflective severity" of the Sonoran Desert discovers "a slight stretching of what he presumed to be his soul". Each morning, Theo drinks his own pee and performs yoga amongst his garden of cholla cacti and saguaros in a majestically different environment, which brings great change to the tender Mr Moon. Endearing and gently comic, Theo contrasts sharply with his cynical daughter, Josephine, who's wise beyond her years even at four. The novel follows her development from adoring child into sullen, embarrassed adolescent, with wry and cleverly observed detail and emotion. Josephine delights in her fairytale surroundings until she encounters a pair of golden high-heeled sandals and asks awkward questions about the whereabouts of her mother.
In a surprising but deftly handled switch, Elderkin takes the action to a Slovakian shoe factory where Eva Ligocka is about to fall madly in love with a travelling ice-cream vendor called Tibor, the only man who doesn't smell of leather. In the Eastern European sections, the writing itself becomes more beautifully polished. The fabulous and often hilarious journey that brings Eva to Theo's door is central to the novel.
The title which comes from an invented ice-cream flavour suggests something much more sweet and sentimental than what's offered in Elderkin's first novel. She pulls off the bizarre meeting between the incongruous characters with great delicacy and the book's tragedies are delivered with quiet, low-key assurance. A witty, charming and sensual debut that plays on many English-American differences, especially those around food. --Cherry Smyth