BOOK REVIEW / Paperbacks: Mischief - Chris Wilson: Flamingo, pounds 4.99

Witty, high-jinks social satire with a serious moral purpose is provided by this farcical story-line: the last surviving member of the Xique Xique people of Brazil (aka Charlie Duckworth) is brought to England by a well-meaning zoologist. Charlie's choppy career as Innocent Abroad is not helped by his appearance and physical attributes (bright yellow eyes and orange skin, a single tuft of hair on his head and a penis like a corkscrew); more devastating, though, is the human intolerance he encounters. Thoughtful as well as funny.