Scoop

By: Evelyn Waugh

Narrated by: Simon Cadell

Lord Copper, newspaper magnate and proprietor of the Daily Beast, has always prided himself on his intuitive flair for spotting ace reporters. That is not to say he has not made the odd blunder, however, and may in a moment of weakness make another.

Acting on a dinner party tip from Mrs. Algernon Stitch, Lord Copper feels convinced that he has hit on just the chap to cover a promising war in the African Republic of Ishmaelia.

So begins Scoop, Waugh's exuberant comedy of mistaken identity and brilliantly irreverent satire of the hectic pursuit of hot news. Evelyn Waugh's tale of an innocent abroad is a hilarious satire on journalism set amidst the powerful currents of the 1930s and contains a memorable collection of comic creations.

©1938 Evelyn Waugh (P)2015 Hachette Audio

ONE OF THE VERY GOOD ONES

This is a short but very enjoyable novel, packed with interesting and entertaining characters, each of whom might easily have launched a novel of his or her own. I remember reading this about 20 years ago and enjoying it then; but did even more so this time, as I had stumbled across Waugh (once more) after wading thru the swamp of hackneyed dreck that currently passes for contemporary fiction, and the relief at finding something of actual quality and intelligence was as great as the pleasure of the entertainment. You will have to enjoy it because Waugh gives you no option.

One of the great comic novels

Along with Black Mischief, the author's other masterpiece of wicked comedy, Scoop must qualify as one of the finest comic novels ever written.

As we follow the travails of William Boot, a naive nature sketch writer, mistakenly sent to darkest Africa in the 1930s as a foreign correspondent, a rich parade of devilish hilarity envelops us.

A great book and the reading is exemplary.