Fool on the Hill

1997

by Matt Ruff

Fool on the Hill is a full-blown epic of life and death, good and evil, magic and love. Imagine the imaginative daring of Mark Helprin’s Winter’s Tale and the zany popism of Tom Robbins’s Another Roadside Attraction. Enter a world where dogs and cats can talk, and a subculture of sprites lives in the shadows. If you're the sensitive type, or perhaps drunk enough, you might see them cavorting across the lawn.

Meet Stephen Titus George, the novel’s youthful hero, a mild-mannered flier of kites, a sometimes writer of bestselling fiction, and a would-be knight looking for a maiden. His journey will reveal a century-old story and the proverbial dragon whose slaying will sanctify their love. But it will not be a sword that fells the foe but the transforming power of the imagination.

This is a tale where the Bohemians, a group of Harley- and horseback-riding students dedicated to all things unconventional, hold all-night revels for the glory of their cause. And then there's the unseen Mr. Sunshine, an eternal, semi-retired deity, orchestrating his own story with dragons, sprites, gnomes, and villains. Can Stephen decide his own fate if it’s already being plotted by a god?

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A quiet chapter... More content is just around the corner. 🌄.

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