It's the early 1930s. America is in the grip of the Depression but Hollywood is thriving. After a disastrous African safari experience Hungarian émigré 'Doctor Professor' Jozsef Kiss sets off for the new world with orphaned chimpanzee Sigi to make it big in the movies. Sigi - renamed 'Siggy the Wonder Chimp' - is an instant hit and Jozsef, Siggy and manager Harry Finkelstein are the toast of Tinseltown. But Jozsef and Siggy are both heavy drinkers and as the films get worse and worse they drink more and more - can it last? Humphries is clearly well versed in the early history of Hollywood, and this bittersweet black comedy crackles with classic 30s-style dialogue-the scene with the two wiseguy bouncers (wannabe-scriptwriters) is fantastic! The narrative is interspersed with plausible reviews of Siggy's film appearances and excerpts from very cheesy B-movie scripts. The hands-off, second-person narration makes Siggy as important a character as the humans, and he's actually far more likable than most of them. This is a very good example of that brave type of Australian novel-one that doesn't feel the need to include any distinctly Australian content whatsoever. It is the kind of book that will benefit enormously from handselling. I would recommend it for readers who enjoyed Cavalier and Clay or Carter Beats the Devil.

Tim Coronel is AB&P's assistant editor. C. 2003 Thorpe-Bowker and contributors

Tags: andrew humphreys