Paul Stanbridge

Paul Stanbridge grew up in Essex. He has had numerous jobs: pensions administrator, bookseller, receptionist, waiter, ministerial drafter, learning mentor and builder. He studied literature at the universities of Reading and Manchester and wrote a doctoral thesis that examines creative method in literary modernism. Forbidden Line is his first novel.

Don Waswill and Isaiah Olm embark on a journey around Essex and London to reveal the truth, or lack thereof, about history and the hyperfine transition of oxygen. Don, who claims not to believe in the past or future, lives in the moment and is purely led by Chance. Isaiah, on the other hand, only wants to make it home safely and never understands Don’s intellectual speeches. But danger, violence and mayhem seem to always follow them…

This modern retelling of Don Quixote is complex, challenging, eccentric and hilarious in equal measure. From poetic descriptions of the Essex countryside and a recreation of the Peasant’s Revolt, to absurd scientific theories and profound, ingenious philosophy; Forbidden Line is a pleasure to read.