La Squab by David Britton represents a departure from the author's reputation as the creator of Lord Horror, the last novel to be banned in Britain.

Masquerading as a book for children, the primary inspirations of La Squab are The Wind in the Willows—if Grahame's classic had been re-written by Adolf Hitler!—and the 'Fudge & Speck' comic strip created by celebrated Beano cartoonist Ken Reid.

At once loony and dangerous, La Squab relates a picaresque river journey down a Thames whose metaphysical qualities exist only in Mr Britton's imagination. Along the way, favourite children's characters such as Tiger Tim, Angel Face and Weary Willie & Tired Tim are encountered, together with real-life historical figures Alfred Jarry, Sigmund Freud, Leni Riefenstahl, and Lord Horror's treacherous doppelgänger, Lord Haw-Haw.

The final destination is a submerged Auschwitz conjured afresh beneath the mighty Thames. There La Squab's playful romp through literature and topsy-turvy morals reveals that all is not always well in the end!