His first novel, Hemingway's Chair, was a bestseller. But that was in 1995. Now Monty Python alum and travel writer Michael Palin has decided to write a second novel.
"Like a Python sketch, the novel presents nuttiness with a realistic veneer, yet also like a Python sketch, it may not necessarily mean anything when it's over," said the New York Times in its review of Hemingway's Chair. "The book's strengths, on the other hand, are precisely the ones you don't expect: its dry, deftly understated wit; its careful plot and character construction; its hearty, well-formed sentences; its clever, on-the-money dialogue."
Palin has now announced that he is to write a second novel, as yet unnamed, which will be published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in May 2011. "'I've enjoyed writing my travel books enormously but I feel it is time to give the imagination a bit of exercise," he said.
His publisher at Weidenfeld, Kirsty Dunseath, added that Palin – also the author of a number of children's stories, and the play The Weekend – had "a terrific eye for unusual stories and a natural gift for characterisation".
"Michael Palin is a wonderfully observant and thoughtful writer and is very aware of the importance of the writer's craft – as he said in his speech at the Nibbies: 'Being a writer is a great privilege and a stark test. It's a constant learning process and I strive to do and learn more each time. But there's certainly nothing I do that I care about more than writing'," Dunseath said.
Weidenfeld also publishes the second volume of Palin's diaries, Halfway to Hollywood, this September.
We can't wait to read it. Michael Palin's books are always a pleasure to read, whether they are interesting travelogues or fiction. And his travel series on DVD is just marvelous.
