The Fisher King

The Fisher King by Leonore Fleischer. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780140156232.

A successful radio DJ unwittingly incites a psychopath to murder. Devastated, he renounces his former life and sinks into despair. Then he meets Parry, a former professor of medieval history, now a bum searching for the Holy Grail in New York. Their lives become entwined. Jack Lucas is a man who has always looked down at life from the top. He is the menace of Manhattans airwaves, the citys No.1 shock-DJ, but his off-handed arrogance triggers an incident that derails him from the fast track onto a precipitous decline through the looking-glass into a whole other world he never imagined... into Parrys world. Once a professor of medieval history, Parry lives in a remarkable world of his own creation in order to insulate himself from a tragedy in his past. He now sees a singular New York and has the charismatic ability to permit others to see the world as he does - full of turrets and castles, terrifying red knights and damsels in distress. Drawn to this unlikely saviour, Jack sets off on a heroic quest through the streets of New York to help realize Parrys noblest dream and redeem himself.