Showing titles in Satire

Chris Addison – the thinking idiot's pretend anthropologist – takes us on a comic journey through the vast and rich subject of human history in these eight hilarious comedy lectures. Aided by Professor Austin Herring (aka Geoffrey McGivern), Dan Tetsell and Jo Enright, who put their considerable talents to use in sketches illustrating the lectures, he examines how Homo sapiens became Top Species, charts the rise and fall of the Western world and looks at what’s next for the future of mankind.

Diary of Liz Truss: Prime Minister Extraordinaire is a satirical and humorous dive into the whirlwind 44-day tenure of one of Britain's most short-lived and controversial Prime Ministers. Written as a mock diary, it offers a tongue-in-cheek perspective on Liz Truss's "bold" decisions, chaotic policies, and her unique interpretation of leadership.

Jane Austen's first major novel, a parody of the popular literature of the time, is an ironic tale of the romantic folly of men and women in pursuit of love, marriage, and money. The humorous adventures of young Catherine as she encounters "the difficulties and dangers of a six weeks' residence in Bath" lead to some of Austen's most brilliant social satire.

This parody takes the dragon-riding, enemies-to-lovers tension and high-stakes brutality of the original and transforms it into a hilariously absurd adventure starring Vile Soreinbut and Xadence Marriott—two characters who seem designed specifically to challenge every trope they encounter.

Academy Award winner Dustin Hoffman gives an understated and exemplary performance of this satiric look at the unreality of American media culture. Chance, the enigmatic gardener, becomes Chauncey Gardiner after getting hit by a limo belonging to a Wall Street tycoon. The whirlwind that follows brings Chance to his new status of political policy advisor and possible vice presidential candidate. His garden-variety political responses, inspired by television, become heralded as visionary, and he is soon a media icon.

Will Fairweather is getting old. His back aches, his bowels misbehave if he eats spicy food and he’s completely lost his sense of rhythm. Life has taught him not to take risks, but even that hasn’t stopped his marriage hitting the rocks too. The last thing he needs is a surprise call from Red Fairweather, devil-may-care rock god—and the father Will hasn’t seen for thirty years. If Will’s old before his time, Red’s the boy who won’t grow up.

When Dinah Brooke's second novel, Lord Jim at Home, was first published in 1973, it was described as "squalid and startling," "nastily horrific," and a "monstrous parody" of upper-middle class English life. It is the story of Giles Trenchard, who grows up isolated in an atmosphere of privilege and hidden violence; who goes to war, and returns; and then, one day—like the hero of Joseph Conrad's classic Lord Jim—commits an act that calls his past, his character, his whole world into question.

They tried to kill him. They tried to destroy his marriage. They tried to take his friends, his company, and his title, but did they succeed?! Well, yes… yes they did, on all counts. But that doesn’t matter! For Jackson Blackwell, the one and only Shadow Master, took it all back. However, Sophia and her cabal of conspirators have gone too far this time. To defeat his enemies and save his daughter, Jackson and his loyal crew of misfits must venture into the dark, soulless depths of genre fiction’s red-headed stepchild: Young Adult Fantasy.

Welcome to Funcliffe park. It’s a crusty old caravan park that's falling into the sea, the neighbours are all weird, but forget about that! Have a cuppa and a crumpet instead. It’s 1999 and Nanna wants to keep her football-mad grandson Nobby out of trouble, but everything’s going wrong. Nobby’s having a terrible birthday, Nanna's whacked the local MP with a marigold glove and worst of all, she’s just stewed the tea. Will Nanna and Nobby triumph? Or is it full time for Funcliffe?

An unknown terrorist has released a biological weapon onto the American public. Anyone with an IQ over 84 is in danger - people's heads are exploding - the country is on lockdown. Everything is about to change forever. Luckily, some people are still alive. Like the president of the United States. And Congress. And millions of idiots determined to figure out why their heads aren't blowing up. Which brings us to David Dingle.

Gli anni passano, ma i problemi restano – soprattutto quelli finanziari – e la contessa Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo della Cisterna, perseguitata dall'Agenzia delle Entrate, vive nell'incubo di un futuro in cui per colazione non potrà più permettersi le sue adorate frolle di pasticceria e dovrà ripiegare sui biscotti industriali. È la sua amata Anna, la ragazza che sarebbe diventata sua nuora se suo figlio Emanuele non si fosse fatto lasciare, a proporle un'immediata fonte di introiti: partecipare, in veste di Vip pagata, a una crociera.

The daughter of a narcissistic film star and a billionaire, Madison is abandoned at her Swiss boarding school over Christmas, while her parents are off touting their new projects and adopting more orphans. She dies over the holiday of a mari­juana overdose - and the next thing she knows, she’s in Hell.

Since its publication in 1996, George Saunders’s debut collection has grown in esteem from a cherished cult classic to a masterpiece of the form, inspiring an entire generation of writers along the way. In six stories and a novella, Saunders hatches an unforgettable cast of characters, each...

As World War 3 looms, How to Prepare Your Cat for World War 3 by Cornelius Capybara delivers a rigorous survival manual to transform your feline companion into a battle-ready operative. Spanning eleven chapters, this guide instructs on constructing cat-sized bunkers, rationing resources, crafting protective gear, and training for espionage, scavenging, urban navigation, chemical detection, and evacuation leadership. Tested with the author’s own General Whiskers, the methods adapt military tactics to household materials—cardboard, foil, laser pointers—ensuring resilience amid chaos.

The brilliant and darkly hilarious debut novel about how the past can come back to haunt you (literally) by the New York Times bestselling author of Everyone Here Is Lying, Shari Lapena. Harold Walker, desperately average, is in the throes of a mid-life depression. His wife Audrey clings to an...

The fire is on, sherry poured, presents wrapped, and claws are being sharpened. In a seaside cottage perched on a cliff, one family reunites for Christmas. While snow falls, a tyrannical widowed matriarch presides over her unruly brood. Her niece tends to her whims, but fantasises about eloping; and as more guests arrive, each bringing their secret truths and dreams, the Christmas tree explodes, a brawl erupts, an escape occurs - and their 'midwinter madness' climaxes.

Funny and doom-drenched, The Employees chronicles the fate of the Six-Thousand Ship. The human and humanoid crew members complain about their daily tasks in a series of staff reports and memos. When the ship takes on a number of strange objects from the planet New Discovery, the crew becomes strangely and deeply attached to them, even as tensions boil toward mutiny, especially among the humanoids.

Refugee camps in Africa are swelling. And Europe has closed its borders. The refugees have no future, no hope, and no money to pay the vast sums now demanded by people smugglers. But what they do have is time. And then an angel arrives from reality TV. When German model and star presenter Nadeche Hackenbusch comes to film at the largest of the camps, one young refugee sees a unique opportunity: to organise a march to Europe, in full view of the media.

Unless you're a woman on Tinder between the ages of 19 and 30 in the Clapham area or a high-end cocaine dealer operating in South West London, you probably won't have heard of Rafe Hubris, BA (Oxon). Despite that, he's a crucial figure in the life of our nation. As Boris Johnson's most classic special adviser (spad) at Number 10, he helped the UK government skillfully and efficiently control the COVID crisis, containing it for good by the end of 2020.

The death of Maxilodimus Cruett, who drowns in a vat of oil, sparks a global controversy. Society becomes divided into Rationalists, Pilgrims, and various new theological groups who debate whether the event was murder, a miracle, or a “merger” of substance and consciousness. Grease itself starts to become sentient—it begins to hum, speak, and eventually organize, eventually forming an international commission. Legal battles ensue, culminating in a global strike where all lubrication ceases, with disastrous results for worldwide infrastructure.