Undermajordomo Minor

From its pitch-perfect opening onwards, it's clear from the unusual atmosphere and droll narration that deWitt has created a unique fictional universe... The challenge for the reader is to resist the temptation to devour a novel which should be savoured -- Max Lui * Independent *
With Undermajordomo Minor the contours of the deWittian landscape have come into sharper relief... It's told in a style that is now recognisably deWittian too: dreamlike scenes are recounted in meticulous prose... [An] uproariously perverted fairy tale -- Jon Day * Daily Telegraph *
Immensely entertaining... It insists on being read at a single sitting - it is that readable and funny... It has to be hoped that Patrick deWitt had as much fun writing this stylish caper as readers will have devouring it -- Eileen Battersby * Irish Times *
An electrifying adventure, both tender and profane. Nervy, hilarious and utterly unpredictable, Patrick deWitt has served up another dazzler -- Maria Semple, author * Where’d You Go, Bernadette? *
Patrick deWitt is an artful ventriloquist... [he] splices a range of whimsical genres into a fresh, charming novel about the madness of the human condition... Distinctive and utterly beguiling -- Claire Allfree * Metro *
Quick and funny and thoughtful and moving... A tale that engages us and haunts us just like the best tales of yore... deWitt is a thrilling writer -- Daniel Handler * New York Times *
A sparky, fantastically Gothic novel that takes the hero on many an adventure. It is a witty, charmingly dark story that needs no embellishment -- Eithne Farry * Sunday Express ***** *
Pacy and theatrical... Its comedy derives partly from [...] scenes that are almost Pythonesque in their absurdity. This odd, extravagant tale reads like PG Wodehouse setting Alice Through the Looking Glass at an outpost of Fawlty Towers Hotel in 19th century Austria: and if you think that sounds pleasingly bonkers, you're probably halfway there... a very funny book -- Melissa Harrison * Financial Times *
Part folktale, part comedy of manners, part other, it exists at both ends of deWitt's spectrum at once: pitch black and morning light, as quietly unsettling as it is tender, as sad as it is laugh-out-loud hilarious -- Daniel Dalton * Buzzfeed *
Patrick deWitt has an untrammelled and utterly original imagination. I cannot think of anyone else who could pull off so beautifully this controlled explosion of drollery, mischief, sly fun and tenderness -- Neel Mukherjee
Patrick deWitt is a true original, conjuring up dark and hilarious images. This is a bizarre, darkly funny, passionate book -- Francesca Steele * The Times *
deWitt pitches his take on the Gothic folk tale somewhere between Kafka and Young Frankenstein... This is an effortless read, filled with the most wonderfully idiosyncratic characters -- Robert Epstein * Independent on Sunday *
Patrick deWitt conjures and populates a universe on his terms. This is the territory of the Brothers Grimm, as seen through the skewed lens of Wes Anderson or Monty Python... Touching -- Liza Jensen * Guardian *
Undermajordomo Minor is brutal, brilliant, sly, absurd, and poignant. It's both gripping tale and hilarious subversion. Once again Patrick deWitt proves his wild, original talent, generous wit, and exquisite control -- Sam Lipsyte, author * The Ask *
Humour that's even blacker than your morning coffee * FHM *
A strangely seductive fantasy novel that erupts into moments of outrageous violence, it blends an aberrant but engaging take on the European folk tale with knowing glances to Samuel Beckett and Franz Kafka. A rollicking good read -- Martyn Colebrook * The Lady **** *
Suffused with macabre whimsy, this gently comic offering from deWitt [has]... an eccentric charm -- Phil Baker * Sunday Times *
Charming in its uniqueness, at times it feels like a Wes Anderson creation... If you're a fan of Brechtian tragicomedy, it will bring as much pleasure as deWitt's previous Booker-shortlisted endeavour, The Sisters Brothers -- Jessica Rodger * The List *
A bittersweet coming-of-age story... Funny -- Anthony Cummins * Observer *
As dark as night and as charming as a spell... A fantastical story, told with the panache of an aristocrat from a Gothic romance * Psychologies *
[deWitt's] latest novel is a gothic fairy-tale...[with] a hint of Cold Comfort Farm and Stella Gibbons's woodshed and wit, while an errant salami evokes J.P. Donleavy -- Jeffrey Burke * Mail on Sunday *
Poignant, genuinely disturbing... dramatic and nightmarish and funny to boot. I finished Undermajordomo Minor feeling that deWitt is a literary original who will be around for a long time to come -- Andy Miller * Bookseller *
A weirdly funny, dark Kafkaesque fairy tale for adults. Think Alice In Wonderland and The Grand Budapest Hotel and you're on the right track -- Justine Carbery * Irish Independent *
Witty and wry -- Christine Bridger * Four Shires *
Thoroughly entertaining... deWitt plays around with the genre, and our expectations, in a delightful comic novel -- Alastair Mabbott * Herald *
A dreamlike Euro-Gothic fantasy, with strong comic notes... it casts a powerful spell * Daily Telegraph *
deWitt is a born writer * Irish Examiner *
DeWitt's rickety [and] engaging novel riffs on the folk tale, transporting the reader into a gothic Europe. His characters are flawed, but game, baffled souls struggling in a petri dish, oddly touching to watch... As an element of the novel's quaint, breezily ludicrous backdrop, the conflict illustrates the bravado and relish with which Dewitt conjures and populates a universe... This novel has a lot of knowing fun. -- Liz Jenson * Guardian *
Engrossing, slightly unsettling, and always excellent stuff... Perfect for a long outdoor read. A gothic fantasy, it finds a flawed anti-hero at the centre of a very twisted fairytale, featuring madmen, murder, love and a big castle. -- Joshua Burt * Independent *