The Lunatic

“The author never relaxes his hilarious examination of the island’s taboos . . . By far the funniest book I’ve read in a decade, although its ribald atmosphere is sprayed with the pepper-gas of aggressive social satire.” —Washington Post Book World

Aloysius is the village madman, tolerated by neighbors but forced to eke out a living doing odd jobs. His only company are the animals, trees, and bushes of the woodlands in which he resides, on the outskirts of a village in the hills of St. Ann, on the island of Jamaica. Aloysius is lonely. Admittedly, the animals, trees, and especially the bushes have a lot to say, and undeniably, the flame heart tree is a true friend, but Aloysius has no human friends.

Then love, or a peculiar version of it, comes to Aloysius in the form of a solidly built German tourist, Inga Schmidt. Inga encounters a sleeping Aloysius when she is traversing the countryside photographing the island’s flora and fauna. Thereafter, to the trees’ horror and the bushes’ and village’s disapproval, Aloysius’s world is turned upside down as he finds himself hurtling along in a series of crazy escapades with his newfound love. For Inga, this madman is a revelation. Lunatic or not, Aloysius is capable of satisfying Inga’s libido as frequently as she desires. But the romantic idyll is bruised when Inga invites a local butcher to join a ménage à trois, and shattered when the trio decides to burgle the house of Busha McIntosh . . .

In this outrageously out-of-order, hilarious novel, the reader discovers that madness is by no means restricted to Aloysius, and that goodness and forgiveness may be rarer qualities found in unexpected places.