Hunky Dory (novel)
Hunky Dory was a novel written by Paul Magrs and independently published via Amazon in January 2021. Magrs described it as the first standalone novel he had written in years;[1] its main character, Dodie Golightly, originated in the 2013 Iris Wildthyme story The Ninnies on Putney Common, and since has appeared in several of Magrs' works.
Publisher's summary
Dodie Golightly has just taken charge of Hunky Dory café: the best café in the world. In a neglected corner of south Manchester they've been serving frothy coffee and late night pizzas longer than Dodie's even been alive. She's in her mid-thirties, still living at home, and waiting for her life to start. She's hidden herself away too long..!
Her mother Elena has other ideas for the café her recently-deceased husband created. She's decided it's time to go upmarket and continental. This glamorous widow is a bundle of energy: intent on saving the local library, finishing off her memoirs and even organising a little light kidnapping of unruly Creative Writing Professors...
New to the Golightly circle is Ian – a young gay man who comes to work at the café: whose dream is to have a tiny secondhand bookshop and watch the world go by. He's cynical about love and stuck in a mostly-off romance with a lad who works on the market. But this is the year that Ian's about to fall in love at last...
It looks as if Dodie has found love, too – with a sexy, slightly tubby guy who's writing the strangest-sounding sci-fi novel in the world. These three and their best friends and neighbours embark on all kinds of adventures through long summer nights in Manchester, with library sit-ins, nights out dancing, hostage-takings and lots of nocturnal coffee and gin...
A bit like Armistead Maupin in multicultural south Manchester - it's a novel about storytelling, friendship and love: and about finding your place in the world.
Plot
to be added
Characters
more to be added
Worldbuilding
- Elena was born and raised in Levenshulme.
- Belinda lives on Chestnut Avenue.
Notes
- The plot of Oliver's novel Retro-Thrusters parodies a typical Magrs science fiction novel.
- Magrs released an almost complete version of Hunky Dory on his Patreon, with a few chapters moved and/or omitted.[2]
Continuity
- Dodie has a controlling mother and likes horror films. (PROSE: The Ninnies on Putney Common)
- Ian has pale skin and what appears to be a tattoo of blue feathers covering his collarbone. Dodie assumes he's Irish. (PROSE: The Blue Angel)
- Michael's favourite book is The Mysterious Mr Tweet. (PROSE: Fellowship of Ink)
External links
- Hunky Dory on Amazon
