A Fool's Alphabet
A Fool's Alphabet is a 1992 novel by author Sebastian Faulks, telling the story of photographer Pietro Russell, born in 1950 to a British soldier and his Italian wife, in twenty-six alphabetical chapters.
It is Faulks's second novel and his most experimental. It is unusual for being composed of chapters named after places associated with the character but arranged alphabetically rather than chronologically. The title is taken from the joke alphabet that begins "A for 'orses, B for mutton".
The chapters and locations are as follows:
- Anzio, Italy, 1944
- Backley, Berkshire, England, 1950
- Colombo, Sri Lanka, 1980
- Dorking, Surrey, England, 1963
- Evanston, Illinois, USA, 1985
- Fulham, London, England, 1964
- Ghent, Belgium, 1981
- Houches, Les, France, 1967
- Ibiza, Balearic Islands, 1966
- Jerusalem, Israel, 1982
- Kowloon, Hong Kong, 1980
- Lyndonville, Vermont, USA, 1971
- Mons, Belgium, 1914
- New York, USA, 1983
- Oxford, England, 1976
- Paris, France, 1979
- Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, 1974
- Rome, Italy, 1978
- Sorrento, Italy, 1958
- Terminal 5, Heathrow Airport, England, 1988
- Uzès, France, 1987
- Vladimirci, Yugoslavia, 1986
- Watsonville, California, USA, 1974
- Xianyang, China
- Yarmouth, England, 1991
- Zanica, Italy, 1970