Facing the Tank

Patrick Gale's early novel, FACING THE TANK is a witty, eccentric story of clergy, scandal and English eccentrics

'Made me laugh out loud' Sunday Times

American Professor Evan Kirby, author of a successful book on Hell, moves to Barrowcester in the south England expecting to find the very epitome of a cathedral society of gentle clergymen and coffee mornings.

What he encounters instead is a small city thrown into chaos by scandalous pregnancies, a Satanic summoning of a young feral girl and strange, supernatural events that threaten to rock the hitherto genteel, church going community.

'Gale speedily unleashes his merrily black mischief. The uncovering of the sadness behind the doilies and twinsets is in the best tradition of black humour' Observer

What readers have loved about FACING THE TANK:

'A brilliantly observed story, dark, humorous, sometimes subtly, sometimes uproarious' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

'It takes as the main theme a black comedy of religious experience and small town life, and applies several hard twists to the plot. Like Trollope's Barchester, but with drugs, AIDS and miracles' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

“Gale speedily unleashes his merrily black mischief. The uncovering of the sadness behind the doilies and twinsets is in the best tradition of black humour - ObserverGale is intoxicated with words and feeds upon them with a kind of manic relish . . . The sheer funniness of Facing the Tank made me laugh out loud. Its optimism delighted me - Sunday TimesOriginal and amusing. An elegant, witty writer with an engagingly bizarre imagination - Sunday Telegraph”

Gale speedily unleashes his merrily black mischief. The uncovering of the sadness behind the doilies and twinsets is in the best tradition of black humour - Observer

Gale is intoxicated with words and feeds upon them with a kind of manic relish . . . The sheer funniness of Facing the Tank made me laugh out loud. Its optimism delighted me - Sunday Times

Original and amusing. An elegant, witty writer with an engagingly bizarre imagination - Sunday Telegraph

Patrick Gale was born on the Isle of Wight. He spent his infancy at Wandsworth Prison, which his father governed, then grew up in Winchester before going to Oxford University. He now lives on a farm near Land's End. One of this country's best-loved novelists, his most recent works are A Perfectly Good Man, the Richard and Judy bestseller Notes From An Exhibition, the Costa-shortlisted A Place Called Winter and Mother's Boy. His original BBC television drama, Man In An Orange Shirt, was shown to great acclaim in 2017 as part of the BBC's Queer Britannia series, leading viewers around the world to discover his novels.

Patrick Gale's FACING THE TANK is a witty, eccentric novel of clergy, scandal and English eccentrics - 'Made me laugh out loud' Sunday Times ' 'Gale speedily unleashes his merrily black mischief. The uncovering of the sadness behind the doilies and twinsets is in the best tradition of black humour' Observer American Professor Evan Kirby, moving to Barrowcester to research Paradise after a successful book on Hell, expects a very English cathedral society of gentle clergymen and coffee mornings. What he finds instead is a town thrown into chaos by strange, supernatural events, scandalous pregnancies and a Satanic summoning of a young feral girl.

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