Mr. Toppit » (Unabridged)

Charles Elton worked as a designer and editor in publishing before becoming a director of the Curtis Brown literary agency.  Since 1991 he has worked in television and for the past ten years has been the executive producer in drama at ITV. Among his productions are the Oscar-nominated short Syrup, The Railway Children, Andrew Davies’s adaptation of Northanger Abbey, and the recent series Time of Your Life.

When Arthur Hayman, an unsuccessful screenwriter turned children’s book author, is accidentally hit by a cement truck in London, his dying moments are spent with a passing American tourist, Laurie Clow, who is fated to bring posthumous fame to his obscure series,  The Hayseed Chronicles, and the enigmatic and sinister Mr. Toppit who is at the center of the books. While Arthur doesn’t live to reap the benefits of his books’ success, his legacy falls to his widow, Martha, and their children—the fragile Rachel, and Luke, reluctantly immortalized as the fictional Luke Hayseed, hero of his father’s books. But others want their share of the Hayseed phenomenon, particularly Laurie, who has a mysterious agenda of her own that changes all of their lives as Martha, Rachel, and Luke begin to crumble under the heavy burden of their inheritance.
   Spanning several decades, from the heyday of the postwar British film industry to today’s cutthroat world of show business in Los Angeles, Mr. Toppit is a riveting debut novel that captures an extraordinary family and their tragic brush with fame to wonderfully funny and painful effect.

Publishers Weekly

In this excellent debut, Elton tells the story of a complicated family stretched to its limits by sudden fame and unexpected acquaintances. When we first meet Luke Hayman and his troubled sister, Rachel, they are dealing with the emotional fallout of living their lives in the public eye as the children of Arthur Hayman, posthumously famous author of a universally beloved series of British children's books. (It was only after Arthur was struck and killed by a cement truck that the books took off.) With increasing fame and money, Luke--the obvious inspiration for Arthur's protagonist, Luke Hayseed--struggles to come to terms with his notoriety and keep together his rapidly deteriorating family. Elton skillfully weaves together postwar England and a terrifyingly modern L.A., as well as the hopes and disappointments of frustrated mothers, neglected children, and clandestine lovers. While beautifully written and graced with a unique story line, it is Elton's characters who drive the novel and give it a depth uncommon in debuts. (Sept.)