Corkscrew by Peter Stafford-Bow - Guest Blogger Book Review
A bawdy satire set in the world of wine and big business. Part thriller, part self-help manual and part drinking companion, Corkscrew is a coruscating critique of neo-liberal capitalism, religious intolerance and the perils of blind tasting.
Felix Hart, a tragic orphan, is expelled from school, cast onto the British high street, and forced to make his way in the cut-throat world of wine retailing. Thanks to a positive mental attitude, he is soon forging a promising career, his sensual adventures taking him to the vineyards of Italy, South Africa, Bulgaria and Kent. His path to the summit is littered with obstacles, however. Petty office politics, psychotic managers and the British Board of Wine & Liquor prove challenging enough. But when Felix negotiates the world’s biggest Asti Spumante deal, he bites off more than he can chew and is plunged into a terrifying world of Mafiosi, people smuggling and ruthless multinationals.
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Jennifer's Review
It was a very good book, and parts of it were very funny.
This guy named Felix is being interrogated about his life, so he tells the story of how he became a wine minstrel and worked with wines, and about his travels to sample and buy wines for his job at Gatesave.
I really liked this book and give it 3 stars.
Author Bio
Peter Stafford-Bow is a novelist and wine consultant, based in London. He is best known for his series of award-winning satires set in the world of wine and big business, featuring Felix Hart, a cheerfully amoral drinks executive. Stafford-Bow is a noted public speaker, wine educator and a regular on the literary festival circuit.
A self-taught imbiber, Stafford-Bow dropped out of university to pursue a career in alcohol. After several years working for a chain of wine merchants, he became a supermarket buyer, a role which sent him to every major wine-producing country in the world. After periods working in Asia and Africa, Stafford-Bow returned to the UK to pursue a literary career.
Stafford-Bow's debut novel, Corkscrew: the highly improbable, but occasionally true, tale of a professional wine buyer, is a picaresque, satirical tale drawing on the author's early years working as an international wine buyer for some of the world’s largest retailers. Corkscrew is a People's Book Prize finalist (winner announced in May 2019).
The sequel, Brut Force, released on 1st November 2018, is a thriller that finds Felix Hart caught between a blackmailing luxury goods corporation and a gang of organic wine fanatics. The third novel in the series is due for release in summer 2019.
Stafford-Bow's favourite authors include John le Carré, Hilary Mantel and George MacDonald Fraser. He is currently on a worldwide tour promoting Brut Force and sampling as many wines as he can lay his hands on.
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