THE IMPORTANCE OF MANNERS

A slapstick, satircial novel taking a motley crew of hapless, pampered Europeans on a journey into their very own ‘Heart of Darkness’.

Burt Darwin is a writer and world religions specialist. Lady Chanel Mallory, a former hand model, has married into the aristocracy and loves romance novels. Her husband Lord Percy, a natural cynic, mistakenly thinks she’s French. Sister Mary dresses like Mother Teresa and hopes to be a nun one day. Four passengers on a cruise ship, thrown together by chance, experience the mysteries and contradictions of contemporary Africa when they take an ill-judged trip into the interior. As each is exposed to ancient African mythology and belief, their hypocrisies, petty jealousies and venality are revealed – with hilarious and unforgettable results. The Importance of Manners is a slapstick, satirical comic novel for adults in the vein of Alexander McCall Smith, Evelyn Waugh and PG Wodehouse, from an acclaimed YA author. Born in Istanbul, Hande Zapsu-Watt is a writer, editor, translator and teacher of creative writing and literature. Since her first novel was published in 2008 by Harper Collins USA, she has published four more novels and four children's books which have all been translated into several languages. Co-founder and Editor of the international literary journal The Istanbul Review, Hande has a PhD from Edinburgh University where she is currently teaching. The Importance of Manners, a dark comedy set in Benin, is the first novel she is writing as HG Watt.