'Extraordinary, funny, tender, poetic . . . The story that emerges is Britain's.' Times Literary Supplement

With a new introduction by George Shaw

In a forensic dissection of Britain's souring landscape Gordon Burn tells the tale of Ray Cruddas, a light entertainer effecting a semi-dignified retreat from a fading career, who returns to the unnamed northern town of his youth.

Gordon Burn was the author of four novels, Alma Cogan (winner of the Whitbread First Novel Prize), Fullalove, The North of England Home Sevice and Born Yesterday. He was also the author of the non-fiction titles Somebody's Husband, Somebody's Son, Pocket Money, Happy Like Murderers, On the Way to Work (with Damien Hirst) and Best and Edwards. His last book, Sex & Violence, Death and Silence, was a collection of his essays on art.