Tibor Fischer rose to prominence in 1992 with the publication of Under the Frog: A Black Comedy. Rejected by fifty-eight other publishers, the novel was finally accepted by a small Edinburgh firm, Polygon, and released to critical and popular acclaim. Honored with the Betty Trask Award for "new romantic fiction," it was the first debut novel to become a candidate for the Booker Prize, arguably the most prestigious of British literary awards. Although Roddy Doyle's Paddy Clarke, Ha-Ha-Ha (1993) was the eventual winner, Fischer moved to the critical forefront of contemporary British writing. Further recognition of the newcomer's promise came with his inclusion alongside such established figures as Hanif Kureishi, Kazuo Ishiguro, Will Self, and Jeanette Winterson in a controversial list of the twenty best "Young British Novelists" produced by the literary magazine Granta in spring 1993.

Fischer was thirty-three when Under the Frog was published. His parents, George and Margaret...