Tom Robbins, who has died aged 92, was one of the last cult novelists to emerge from the 1960s. Often compared for their humour to Kurt Vonnegut or Richard Brautigan, his books took their place on the shelves alongside novels by Richard Farina, Peter S Beagle, Philip K Dick, Ken Kesey and Thomas Pynchon.
Rolling Stone magazine called his first novel, Another Roadside Attraction (1971), “the quintessential novel of the 60s”, but it did poorly until the paperback edition became a word-of-mouth bestseller. The next, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1976), was his biggest hit. Its heroine was Sissy Hankshaw, a world-class hitchhiker whose oversized thumbs lead her to the all-female Rubber Rose Ranch run by Bonanza Jellybean.
