Elton Charles Elton 
Mr Toppit 
The Darkly Comic Richard & Judy Bestseller

The bestselling Richard and Judy Book Club Pick ‘Jangly with secrets’ Sunday Times’Funny, inventive, surprisingly moving’ Guardian’Royal Tenenbaums-style saga of dysfunctional family’ The Times When Arthur Hayman, author of The Hayseed Chronicles, dies, a bizarre chain of events makes his series of children’s novels world-famous. But buried deep inside the books lie secrets that begin to shake Arthur’s family his son, Luke, reluctantly immortalized as the young hero; his daughter, Rachel, for whom the books are a hole through which her life has fallen; and his enigmatic wife, Martha, who knows that secrets are best kept well-hidden. And at the heart of The Hayseed Chronicles is the mysterious Mr Toppit, who will let none of the Haymans out of his grasp A darkly comic story of a family shaped by their father’s literary legacy, exploring fame, fandom and long-buried secrets