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"Neglected classic. Hilarious. A romp. An absolute gem."

Darrell Kastin

Defy the Foul Fiend
or The Misadventures of a Heart

John Collier

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"Keep thy foot out of brothels, thy hand out of plackets, thy pen from lenders' books, and defy the foul fiend."

Shakespeare

Willoughby Corbo, our hero, is born the illegitimate son of an irresponsible and irascible nobleman, Lord Ollebeare, who has a nose like a double strawberry as well as "six Norman names, a ruined house, a wild park, and one large and barren farm." With scarcely a backward glance, Ollebeare dumps his unwanted newborn on the doorstep of his brother and hastily disappears. Willoughby is raised alone - neglected and unloved except for the attentions of a devoted (though somewhat unsavory) old servant.

At the proper age Willoughby must find a job and is thrown into a somewhat tilted modern world for which he is wholly unprepared. He sees himself as a worthless wretch - " a waster for political, social, moral, artistic, philosophical, individual, creditable, and interesting reasons." But after lost jobs, squalid boarding houses, unpaid debts, unsavory love affairs, and a reunion with his father, does he defy the foul fiend? The ending may surprise you.

Though better known for his short stories, John Collier is also a great novelist. Defy the Foul Fiend is an absorbing read with the lure of a Dickens-like classic.

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