Life, the Universe and Goats - Esias Ryder

Life, the Universe and Goats - Esias Ryder

Esias Ryder

£10.99

Available to order

Not on our shelves today. We’ll order it in and post it out — with you in 2–3 working days.

  • Pages · 256 pages, 0
  • Publication Date · 06/09/2026
  • Genre · Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)
Collect in store Pick it up free from the shop in Oxford's Covered Market, usually quicker than the post.
Delivery Standard tracked £1.99, free on orders over £20. Express tracked £2.99.
Book Lovers' Happy Hour Three cocktails matched to your taste, three books chosen for you, an hour and a half at the bar. £60 per person. Book a place →
�Welcome to the world's greatest comic novel byEsias Ryder, `Life, The Universe & Goats', a political satire that takesthe wee-wee from Life's hardest themes - the Pain of Life, a Life of Pain, theMeaning of Life, the Universe, the Deleterious Effects of English Literature,Penal Privatisation, the Electrocution of Liberals, and forgetting MaryPoppins. �Life's hardest themes - hardest sub-genus outthere: poetic comedy - and hardest tense - present. �`So stiffen the sinews and the groins for a sorrytale of scandal, sexual depravity, betrayal and extreme money laundering -treacherous traits that elevate the English goat to the eyes of a wondrousworld.' �England rots under the dictatorship of ElPresident� Tony Blair. England's flagship privatised prison of Lower Springwoodrots a sinking ship under the governorship of Archibald Hornblower `Gerbil'James. �Lodge' Ladies' Night in Chapter 3 is a tribute(viz Porterhouse Blue) to Tom Sharpe, after whom this novel is dedicated. �Popular phrases from poems and novels,Shakespeare, especially Hamlet, and from song lyrics, are assumed recognisableas not to warrant references.

Only at Gulp Fiction

Book Lovers' Happy Hour

An hour and a half at the bar, with three cocktails matched to your taste and three books chosen for you. Tell us what you like when you book, and we'll have them waiting when you arrive.

  • 1½ hours
  • £60 per person
  • 3 cocktails, 3 books
Book Happy Hour

Up to four of you can come — book a place each and choose the same time slot, then tell us who you're with. For larger groups, email gulpfictionbooks@gmail.com and we'll arrange it.

Three customers at the window table in Gulp Fiction, cocktails in hand beside a stack of books, with Oxford's Covered Market visible through the glass

Collect in store

Order online and pick it up from the shop. It's free, and usually quicker than the post.

Find us

Units 28–29, Covered Market, Oxford OX1 3DU. Mon–Wed 10–5, Thu–Sat 10–10, Sun 11–4.

Book a table

The bar is open late Thursday to Saturday. Reserve a table for a drink among the books.