When Percy Vosper inaugurates a literary festival in his home town in the north of England, little does he realise the place will be shaken to its foundations when a dysfunctional travelling theatre company and a stream of larger than life literati descend on it.

Leading literary critic Graham Burton and aspiring journalist Heather Glaze observe events with a wry detachment unaware that the arrival of an American breakfast cereal mogul will change their lives irrevocably.

The business ambitions of a leading national newspaper group and a local radio station's hilarious broadcasts add further spice to this lively novel which ranges from tragedy to farce.