The Good Mayor: A Novel [Paperback]

Andrew Nicoll (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 25, 2009

In a busy little city in a forgotten corner of the Baltic, in an office on the square, the beloved mayor of Dot lies on his office floor, peering beneath his door. Tibo Krovic has come to work from his house down at the end of a blue-tiled path. He’s taken, as usual, the tram seven stops, and walked the final two. He’s stopped for strong Viennese coffee. And now Tibo Krovic is looking at the perfectly beautiful feet of his voluptuous, unhappily married secretary, Mrs. Agathe Stopak. The Good Mayor is badly in love.

And over the course of days, months, and years, amid life’s daily routine—a fallen lunch pail, a single touch . . . a handwritten note and then a terrible choice—he and Agathe must come to terms with this thing that has seized hold of them both, exploring the tastes of desire and despair, love, friendship, and betrayal. . . . Until fate, magic, and their own actions lift them from their moorings—toward an utterly unexpected future.

Their tortuous road to bliss is fraught with phantom circus performers, malevolent painters, rotund lawyers, mysterious fortune-tellers—and every single one of love’s astonishing little cruelties and miracles.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With the expertise of a seasoned writer, Nicoll spins a whimsical love story in his debut novel. Tibo Krovic has been the mayor of Dot, a small town in an unnamed country on the Baltic Sea, for 20 years. He's hopelessly in love with his secretary, Agathe Stopak, who's miserable in a loveless marriage with her drunkard husband. After consulting a psychic, Agathe begins to see the good mayor in a new light, and after the two tiptoe around each other for weeks, Tibo gets up the courage to ask Agathe out for lunch. But being the good man he is, he finds it difficult to cross any other boundaries with a married woman, even as tension builds between them. Meanwhile, Agathe gets tired of waiting for Tibo to make his move and stumbles into a mistake that could have very far-ranging consequences. Told with fantastical detail, delightful insights and a touch of humor, this fairy taleish romance is a genuine treat. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“A literary novel and gorgeously written, old-fashioned romance.” —Australian Women’s Weekly

“An exuberant, whirlwind read.” —Guardian

“Whimsical and charming.” —Australian

“One of the best books I have ever read—it had humour and lightness of touch that hooked me from the first page to the last.”—Daily Telegraph

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; Original edition (August 25, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385343124
• ISBN-13: 978-0385343121
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #428,313 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beguiling, magical love story, June 8, 2009

By 

Luanne Ollivier - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Good Mayor (Paperback)

The Good Mayor is Scottish author Andrew Nicoll's debut novel. Nicoll is a former lumberjack turned newspaper journalist who wrote The Good Mayor on his commute back and forth to work.

It's an absolutely quirky, offbeat, enchanting, magical love story.

This tale is narrated by St. Walpurnia, a bearded nun, who has watched over the small town of Dot, in a forgotten corner of the Baltic, for many, many years. Tibo Krovic is the mayor of Dot. He is known as Good Mayor Krovic as he always says and does the right thing. The good mayor has harboured a secret for many years. He is in love with his lonely, married secretary - Mrs. Agathe Stopak. But he worships from afar, or at least peeking under the crack in his office door, afraid to let her know of his feelings. One day fate, or St. Walpurnia, steps in and it seems like the good mayor and Mrs. Stopak may have a chance at true love. But the path of love is almost always crooked....

Now it sounds like a mushy love story but it's anything but. We have Strega Mamma Cesare (an Italian witch) who sees and knows much more about Dot and its' inhabitants than anyone realizes.

" Small and brown, Mamma Cesare waddled in front of them like a magic toadstool leading two lost children through a fairy story."

And that is the feel of The Good Mayor - a fairy tale for adults. Anyone who loved the film The Princess Bride will be enchanted by this story.

There is a circus troupe that only some can hear and see, but they seem to appear at the most opportune moments. And an enigmatic, very overweight lawyer who seems to also know a bit more than he should.

"...nothing in Dot is ever just quite what it seems. Nothing."

The story itself is charming but it is Nicoll's language and telling of the story that make it so wonderful. The thoughts, the feelings, the descriptions -all of it captured and held me until I reluctantly turned the last page.

As St. Walpurnia says "Anyway, this story is much more about the telling than the things that happen in it..."

Tender, funny, charming and beguiling - this one will stay with you and make you wish for a little bit of magic in your life...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How can people not know about this book?, March 21, 2010

By 

C. Allen Gordon (Lancaster, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Good Mayor: A Novel (Paperback)

I'm an English literature teacher, and having said that . . . I read a lot. And up until I read this book, I would have said that hands down, the greatest novel that I'd ever read was Their Eyes Were Watching God -- but I must say I have a new favorite. I am amazed that no one has told me about this book -- I can't believe that the world isn't abuzz with the wonder of this read. I'm a cheapskate . . . I get books at the library because I inhale them and then take them back. This one I bought so that I could read it again and again and again. I promise you will want to do the same . .. to not want to is impossible; this book is that charming, that engrossing and that special.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars super whimsical romance, September 5, 2009

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Good Mayor: A Novel (Paperback)

For two decades Tibo Krovic has served as THE GOOD MAYOR of Dot on the Baltic Sea. He has been in love with his secretary Agathe Stopak for years, but does his best to hide his feelings from her and everyone. Besides being his employee, she is married to a drunk.

Agathe is sad as her marriage lacks love. She visits the Italian psychic Strega Mamma Cesare and soon afterward takes a closer look at her boss. Tibo knows something has changed in the office, but is not sure what. For the next few weeks, the pair keeps their distance as much as possible until one day he asks her to go to lunch. She accepts and they enjoy their meal together but being ethical he refuses to cross the line so she looks elsewhere.

THE GOOD MAYOR is a super whimsical romance with pathos and humor enhancing a profound look at Tibo and Agathe. Whimsy is the prime element throughout even describing the country at the onset. The fully developed lead couple affirms that love is so capricious and quirky it is the ultimate proof of chaos theory. Fans will relish this wonderful charming love story while wondering whether a happy ever after is in store for protagonists.

Harriet Klausner