{"product_id":"a-spot-of-bother-isbn-9780307278869","title":"A Spot of Bother","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eA Spot of Bother\u003c\/i\u003e is Mark Haddon’s unforgettable follow-up to the internationally beloved bestseller \u003ci\u003eThe Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time\u003c\/i\u003e. At sixty-one, George Hall is settling down to a comfortable retirement. When his tempestuous daughter, Katie, announces that she is getting married to the deeply inappropriate Ray, the Hall family is thrown into a tizzy. Unnoticed in the uproar, George discovers a sinister lesion on his hip, and quietly begins to lose his mind. As parents and children fall apart and come together, Haddon paints a disturbing yet amusing portrait of a dignified man trying to go insane politely.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA \u003ci\u003eWashington Post \u003c\/i\u003eBest Book of the Year\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eA Spot of Bother\u003c\/i\u003e snaps, crackles and pops with humor and pathos. . . . Sparklingly  written. . . . Haddon deftly pulls this off with what we can now hail as his trademark  tenderness.” —\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Totally brilliant. . . . Wondrously articulate.... \u003ci\u003eA Spot of Bother\u003c\/i\u003e serves as a fine example of why novels exist.” —\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times  Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Superbly entertaining.” —\u003ci\u003eThe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eWashington Post Book World\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“[Haddon’s]  craftsmanship is dazzling, his sense of character profound, his kindness toward his  creations that of a consummate caregiver. Humorous, occasionally heart-rending and  always enthralling, \u003ci\u003eA Spot of Bother \u003c\/i\u003eis a wonder and a joy.” —\u003ci\u003eChicago Sun-Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMark Haddon is the author of the bestselling novels \u003ci\u003eThe Red House \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e A Spot of Bother\u003c\/i\u003e, and the short story collection\u003ci\u003e The Pier Falls and Other Stories. \u003c\/i\u003eHis novel \u003ci\u003eThe Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time\u003c\/i\u003e won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for First Fiction and is the basis for the Tony Award–winning play. He is the author of a collection of poetry,\u003ci\u003e The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea, \u003c\/i\u003ehas written and illustrated numerous children’s books, and has won awards for both his radio dramas and his television screenplays. He teaches creative writing for the Arvon Foundation and lives in Oxford, England.\u003c\/p\u003e1\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt began when George was trying on a black suit in Allders the week before Bob Green’s funeral. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was not the prospect of the funeral that had unsettled him. Nor Bob dying. To be honest he had always found Bob’s locker-room bonhomie slightly tiring and he was secretly relieved that they would not be playing squash again. Moreover, the manner in which Bob had died (a heart attack while watching the Boat Race on television) was oddly reassuring. Susan had come back from her sister’s and found him lying on his back in the center of the room with one hand over his eyes, looking so peaceful she thought initially that he was taking a nap.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eIt would have been painful, obviously. But one could cope with pain. And the endorphins would have kicked in soon enough, followed by that sensation of one’s life rushing before one’s eyes which George himself had experienced several years ago when he had fallen from a stepladder, broken his elbow on the rockery and passed out, a sensation which he remembered as being not unpleasant (a view from the Tamar Bridge in Plymouth had figured prominently for some reason). The same probably went for that tunnel of bright light as the eyes died, given the number of people who heard the angels calling them home and woke to find a junior doctor standing over them with a defibrillator. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen . . . nothing. It would have been over. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was too early, of course. Bob was sixty-one. And it was going to be hard for Susan and the boys, even if Susan did blossom now that she was able to finish her own sentences. But all in all it seemed a good way to go. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNo, it was the lesion which had thrown him. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe had removed his trousers and was putting on the bottom half of the suit when he noticed a small oval of puffed flesh on his hip, darker than the surrounding skin and flaking slightly. His stomach rose and he was forced to swallow a small amount of vomit which appeared at the back of his mouth. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCancer. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe had not felt like this since John Zinewski’s Fireball had capsized several years ago and he had found himself trapped underwater with his ankle knotted in a loop of rope. But that had lasted for three or four seconds at most. And this time there was no one to help him right the boat. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe would have to kill himself. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was not a comforting thought but it was something he could do, and this made him feel a little more in control of the situation. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe only question was how. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJumping from a tall building was a terrifying idea, easing your center of gravity out over the edge of the parapet, the possibility that you might change your mind halfway down. And the last thing he needed at this point was more fear. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHanging needed equipment and he possessed no gun. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf he drank enough whiskey he might be able to summon the courage to crash the car. There was a big stone gateway on the A16 this side of Stamford. He could hit it doing 90 mph with no difficulty whatsoever. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut what if his nerve failed? What if he were too drunk to control the car? What if someone pulled out of the drive? What if he killed them, paralyzed himself and died of cancer in a wheelchair in prison? \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Sir...? Would you mind accompanying me back into the store?” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA young man of eighteen or thereabouts was staring down at George. He had ginger sideburns and a navy blue uniform several sizes too large for him. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGeorge realized that he was crouching on the tiled threshold outside the shop. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Sir...?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGeorge got to his feet. “I’m terribly sorry.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Would you mind accompanying me...?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGeorge looked down and saw that he was still wearing the suit trousers with the fly undone. He buttoned it rapidly. “Of course.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe walked back through the doors then made his way between the handbags and the perfumes toward the menswear department with the security guard at his shoulder. “I appear to have had some kind of turn.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“You’ll have to discuss that with the manager, I’m afraid, sir.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe black thoughts which had filled his mind only seconds before seemed to have occurred a very long time ago. True, he was a little unsure on his feet, the way you were after slicing your thumb with a chisel, for example, but he felt surprisingly good given the circumstances. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe manager of the menswear department was standing bedside a rack of slippers with his hands crossed over his groin. “Thank you, John.” The security guard gave him a deferential little nod, turned on his heels and walked away. “Now, Mr....” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Hall. George Hall. My apologies. I . . .” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Perhaps we should have a word in my office,” said the manager. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA woman appeared carrying George’s trousers. “He left these in the changing room. His wallet’s in the pocket.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGeorge pressed on. “I think I had some kind of blackout. I really didn’t mean to cause any trouble.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHow good it was to be talking to other people. Them saying something. Him saying something in return. The steady ticktock of conversation. He could have carried on like this all afternoon. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Are you all right, sir?” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe woman cupped a hand beneath his elbow and he slid downward and sideways onto a chair which felt more solid, more comfortable and more supportive than he remembered any chair ever feeling. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThings became slightly vague for a few minutes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen a cup of tea was placed into his hands.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Thank you.” He sipped. It was not good tea but it was hot, it was in a proper china mug and holding it was a comfort. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Perhaps we should call you a taxi.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was probably best, he thought, to head back to the village and buy the suit another day. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e2\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe decided not to mention the incident to Jean. She would only want to talk about it and this was not an appealing proposition. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTalking was, in George’s opinion, overrated. You could not turn the television on these days without seeing someone discussing their adoption or explaining why they had stabbed their husband. Not that he was averse to talking. Talking was one of life’s pleasures. And everyone needed to sound off now and then over a pint of Ruddles about colleagues who did not shower frequently enough, or teenage sons who had returned home drunk in the small hours and thrown up in the dog’s basket. But it did not change anything. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe secret of contentment, George felt, lay in ignoring many things completely. How anyone could work in the same office for ten years or bring up children without putting certain thoughts permanently to the back of their mind was beyond him. And as for that last grim lap when you had a catheter and no teeth, memory loss seemed like a godsend. \u003cbr\u003eHe told Jean that he had found nothing in Allders and would drive back into town on Monday when he did not have to share Peterborough with forty thousand other people. Then he went upstairs to the bathroom and stuck a large plaster over the lesion so that it could no longer be seen. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe slept soundly for most of the night and woke only when Ronald Burrows, his long-dead geography teacher, pressed a strip of duct tape over his mouth and hammered a hole through the wall of George’s chest with a long metal spike. Oddly, it was the smell which upset him most, a smell like the smell of a poorly cleaned public toilet which has recently \u003cbr\u003ebeen used by a very ill person, heady and curried, a smell, worst of all, which seemed to be coming from the wound in his own body. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe fixed his eyes on the tasseled lampshade above his head and waited for his heart to slow down, like a man pulled from a burning building, still not quite able to believe that he is safe. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSix o’clock. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe slid out of bed and went downstairs. He put two slices of bread into the toaster and took down the espresso maker Jamie had given them for Christmas. It was a ridiculous gadget which they kept on show for diplomatic reasons. But it felt good now, filling the reservoir with water, pouring coffee into the funnel, slotting the rubber seal into place and screwing the aluminium sections together. Oddly reminiscent of Gareth’s steam engine which George had been allowed to play with during the infamous visit to Poole in 1953. And a good deal better than sitting watching the trees at the far end of the garden swaying like sea monsters while a kettle boiled. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe blue flame sighed under the metal base of the coffeemaker. Indoor camping. A bit of an adventure. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe toast pinged up. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat was the weekend, of course, when Gareth burned the frog. How strange, looking back, that the course of an entire life should be spelled out so clearly in five minutes during one August afternoon. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe spread butter and marmalade on the toast while the coffee gargled through. He poured the coffee into a mug and took a sip. It was hair-raisingly strong. He added milk till it became the color of dark chocolate then sat down and picked up the RIBA Journal which Jamie had left on his last visit. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Azman Owen house. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTimber shuttering, sliding glass doors, Bauhaus dining chairs, the single vase of white lilies on the table. Dear God. Sometimes he longed to see a pair of discarded Y-fronts in an architectural photograph. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“High-frequency constant-amplitude electric internal vibrators were specified for the compaction, to minimize blowholes and to produce a uniform compaction effort . . .” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe house looked like a bunker. What was it about concrete? In five hundred years were people going to stand under bridges on the M6 admiring the stains? \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe put the magazine down and started the \u003ci\u003eTelegraph\u003c\/i\u003e crossword. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNanosecond. Byzantium. Quiff. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJean appeared at seven thirty wearing her purple bathrobe. “Trouble sleeping?” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Woke up at six. Couldn’t quite manage to drift off again.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I see you used Jamie’s whatsit.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“It’s rather good, actually,” George replied, though, in truth, the caffeine had given him a hand tremor and the unpleasant sensation you had when you were waiting for bad news. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Can I get you anything? Or are you fully toasted?” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Some apple juice would be good. Thank you.”\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eSome mornings he would look at her and be mildly repulsed by this plump, aging woman with the witch hair and the wattles. Then, on mornings like this...“Love” was perhaps the wrong word, though a couple of months back they had surprised themselves by waking up simultaneously in that hotel in Blakeney and having intercourse without even brushing their teeth. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe put his arm around her hips and she idly stroked his head in the way one might stroke a dog. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere were days when being a dog seemed an enviable thing. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I forgot to say.” She peeled away. “Katie rang last night. They’re coming for lunch.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“They?” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“She and Jacob and Ray. Katie thought it would be nice to get out of London for the day.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBloody hell. That was all he needed. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJean bent into the fridge. “Just try to be civil.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e3\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJean rinsed the stripy mugs and put them onto the rack. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA few minutes later George reappeared in his work clothes and headed down the garden to lay bricks in the drizzle. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSecretly she was rather proud of him. Pauline’s husband started to go downhill as soon as they handed him the engraved decanter. Eight weeks later he was in the middle of the lawn at 3:00 a.m. with a bottle of Scotch inside him, barking like a dog. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen George showed her the plans for the studio it reminded her of Jamie’s plans for that machine to catch Santa Claus. But there it was, at the far end of the lawn, foundations laid, five rows of bricks, window frames stacked under blue plastic sheeting. \u003cbr\u003eSeven or fifty-seven, they needed their projects. Bringing something dead back to the cave. Setting up the Wellingborough franchise. A solid lunch, twenty minutes of playtime and gold stars to show that someone was taking notice. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe unscrewed the espresso maker and a pat of sodden grounds slumped onto the draining board and disintegrated. “Shit.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe got a disposable cloth wipe from the cupboard. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou’d think they were coming back from Vietnam the way some of them talked about retirement. Not a thought for the wives. It didn’t matter how much you loved someone. Thirty-five years of the house to yourself, then you had to share it with... not a stranger exactly . . . \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe would still be able to see David. With her mornings at the primary school and her part-time job at Ottakar’s bookshop in town, it was simple enough to spend a few extra hours out of the house without George noticing. But it had seemed less of a deception when he was working. Now he was having lunch at home seven days a week and some things were far too close to one another. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLuckily he enjoyed having the place to himself, and had precious little interest in what she did when she was elsewhere. Which made it easier. The guilt. Or the lack of it. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe rinsed the grit off the cloth wipe, wrung it out and hung it over the tap. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe was being unkind. The prospect of Katie coming to lunch probably. Him and Ray being polite when they wanted to lock horns and grapple. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGeorge was a decent man. Never got drunk. Never hit her, never hit the children. Hardly ever raised his voice. Only last week she’d seen him drop a monkey wrench on his foot. He just closed his eyes, straightened his back and concentrated, like he was trying to hear someone calling from a very long way away. And only one speeding ticket. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMaybe that was the problem. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe remembered being jealous of Katie when she got together with Graham. Their being friends. Their being equals. George’s face that suppertime when they were talking about the birth. Graham using the word clitoris and George with this forkful of gammon hovering in front of his open mouth. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut that was the trouble with being friends. Graham walks out one day, leaving her to look after Jacob. Which a man like George would never do. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe was right about Ray, though. She wasn’t looking forward to lunch any more than him. Thank God Jamie wasn’t coming. One of these days he was going to call Ray “Mr. Potato-Head” in Katie’s hearing. Or Ray’s. And she was going to be driving someone to hospital. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHalf Katie’s IQ and Ray still called her “a wonderful little woman.” Though he did mend the Flymo that time. Which didn’t endear him to George. He was solid, at least. Which was what Katie needed right now. Someone who knew she was special. Someone with a good salary and a thick skin. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJust so long as Katie didn’t marry him.A Novel","brand":"Vintage","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46299824259301,"sku":"NP9780307278869","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780307278869.jpg?v=1767720813","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/a-spot-of-bother-isbn-9780307278869","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}