Dimensions
154 x 233 x 25mm
From the highly acclaimed director of 'Midnight Express' and 'The Commitments' comes a sparkling story of a pickpocket's odyssey through America.
It is during the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 that seven-year-old Thomas Moran finds himself accidentally embarking on a career in pick-pocketing. In the years that follow, he becomes a master of his dubious craft, and grows to manhood travelling from state to state across America.
His picaresque journey takes him through Prohibition and the Depression; into the frenzied highs of the Hootchy-Kootchy and the dying vineyards of California, accompanied by an array of richly drawn characters desperately clutching at the crumbling American Dream.
Italian and Chinese gangsters, con-artists, corrupt clergy and speak-easy bootleggers all have a part to play in Tommy's destiny, but it is Effie, the great love of his life, who offers him the chance to change his future, and tries to save him from himself.
Colourfully written, engaging and richly evocative of an extraordinary period in American history, 'The Sucker's Kiss' marks the literary debut of a master storyteller.
