INTOXICATED, the new novel by John Barlow, is set in rural Yorkshire in the late 1860s.
It follows the exploits of wool combing magnate and self-made-man Isaac Brookes, at a time when:
...men rose from the muck and clatter of their mills like patrician-gods of the new alchemy, who took raw wool, still filthy and stinking with the grease of the animal, caked with shit, rank and sour to smell. From this they conjured piles of gold in such quantities that talk of their wealth sounded like a hoax... men, in short, who were no longer of the common world, not even men of the world, but stood like giants above the rest, looking down with benign satisfaction on what they had created...
But this is no ordinary commercial novel. In addition to the wool, it features Rodrigo Vermilion, a foul-smelling humpbacked midget with a gift for words.
He persuades the Brookes family that the future lies not in wool combing, but in sweet, fizzy drinks.
‘Rhubarilla’ is born, a rhubarb based soft drink that takes the world by storm.
INTOXICATED: A NOVEL OF MONEY, MADNESS, AND THE INVENTION OF THE WORLD’S FAVORITE SOFT DRINK is a fantastical tale of sheep, booze, rhubarb and cocaine... a wild, big-hearted spoof of the invention of the soft drink industry.
Published by William Morrow on February 7th, 2006
To find out more about John and INTOXICATED - go to http://www.johnbarlow.net/
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