Mr. Toppit

A chance encounter on a London street between a California tourist and an English children's author in the moments before his death is all it takes to propel The Hayseed Chronicles from obscurity into an international literary sensation. In the days following Arthur Hayman's fatal walk into traffic, Laurie Clow, the host of a radio show for seniors, attaches herself to his family and, in so doing, discovers the books based on his son's explorations into the woods beyond their Dorset home. Back in California, Laurie begins to read the books on the air. The resulting firestorm catapults Laurie to Oprah-like fame and creates a cult following and spin-off industry for the books. Three mysteries lie at the heart of this story—the disappearance of Laurie's father, the death in infancy of the Haymans' first son, and the enigma of Mr. Toppit himself, who appears only in the last sentence of the last book.