Who appreciates a double shot of wry British wit and an entertaining story line? If you’re raising your wine glass (or a pint) and screaming “Well, bloody yes, I do!” then Firing Blancs, Peter Stafford-Bow’s newest novel sent to me for review, is what you’ve been waiting for.
Apparently, Peter Stafford-Bow has always looked at the world with plenty of humor and a hearty side of wine knowledge. “I have always had a dry sense of humor, but as a child most of my teachers thought I was unhappy. I wasn’t, of course, I was simply blessed with a face that looks miserable when it’s at rest. At prep school, my old headmaster used to call, ‘Stafford-Bow, try to smile!’ and I would grin like a village idiot before scuttling off to read a book somewhere.”
His career includes work for wine retailers as a salesman and a buyer for decades and of late, he’s worked as a sales and marketing consultant for retailers and wine producers. Now, novelist is a part of his resume with three Felix Hart books published.
Peter has been inspired by “all the passionate people and glamorous places that make up the world of wine. For many people, especially if you don’t live in a wine-producing region, your interaction with the wine trade is limited to po-faced sommeliers or snobby wine merchants (OK, I know they’re not all like that!). I wanted bring the exciting part to life – the travel, meeting winemakers, and so on,” explained Peter. But there’s more.
If you enjoyed Stafford-Bow’s Corkscrew and Brut Force, you already have a penchant for the hilarious and cringe-worthy antics of main protagonist, Felix Hart, Head of Wine at Gatesave Supermarkets, in London. Within the first few pages of Firing Blancs, Felix is at it again after choking his CEO to death during a presentation. Scandalous? Of course. But it appears that the biggest scandal is the evidence showing Gatesave’s largest South African wine supplier is terrorizing and brutalizing its workers. Felix Hart is sent to Cape Town in order to rectify the matters and what ensues after his arrival and during the process proves that he is “very much expendable.” Peter Stafford-Bow removes every boundary imaginable in Firing Blancs, as he addresses hypocrisy, white privilege, cultural differences and so much more. In fact, pour a glass of wine and settle in, because this book is a page-turner.
Always curious, I asked Peter Stafford-Bow how he devised this story line? “I’ve wanted to write a novel set in the South African winelands ever since I lived and worked there earlier this decade. It’s a beautiful part of the world but scarred by its history – a spell of vicious colonialism (thank you, British Empire) and its brutal political after-shocks. Not too promising for a humorous book about wine, you might think. But satire helps illuminate issues that people might not otherwise choose to explore, and who could be a better guide to the sensitivities of contemporary racial politics and corporate misbehaviour than Felix Hart: cynic, coward and all-round cad?”
And Felix Hart’s character? “Felix is a scoundrel and a bounder and a long way from a respectable role model. I’d be doing a long stretch in prison if I’d behaved half as badly as him,” shares Peter.
Peter Stafford-Bow has said, “you can’t appeal to everyone, but so long as my readers don’t expect an academic text book on bottle openers, they’re probably going to enjoy it.” Agreed. Prepare to be engaged and entertained on every page of Firing Blancs. To order on Amazon, click here.
Cheers! ~ Cindy
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Andrea