The Novice and Other Stories

Gavin Dobson's next helping of stories following Geordie Kinloch (Tales of a Free Spirit), a fictional character based on observations and incidents in the author's life. In the Novice, Geordie is "set up" by experienced financiers and finds himself heavily compromised, but fate takes a hand. Palenque is a ruined Mayan city in the jungles of Tabasco in Mexico. It was the intended climax of a bohemian pilgrimage to Central America but became the scene of a bitter disappointment. The Billet Doux arrived one morning and inspired Geordie to the heights of mischief, but his practical joke misfired with painful consequences. In Geordie we can recognize ourselves - the triumphs and disappointments that life doles out in equal measure. Do we learn very much from either experience?