Description

Book Synopsis
'He was indeed the nearest anybody ever got to Charlie Chaplin in print...the sentences skid and dance and hop on one leg or take a custard pie right on the chin or duck and weave and leave you gasping behind. But he is more for the wry smile than the belly laugh'. This was how Sid Chaplin described Jack Common, author of two of the best working-class novels of the 20th century, and 'the best prose writer to come from the North-East of England'. "Kiddar's Luck", his first novel, was a commercial flop when it first appeared. It has since been called a 'neglected masterpiece', remarkable for its 'linguistic mastery and insights into the lives of working people, free of illusions and false heroics' (Richard Kelly in "The Independent"). Common's semi-autobiographical novel tells the story of a boy, Willie Kiddar, his first 14 years, from conception on a Sunday afternoon to leaving school during the First World War.

Kiddar's Luck

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    A Paperback / softback by Jack Common

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      Book details

      Publisher Bloodaxe Books Ltd
      Published 28 June 1990
      ISBN-13 9781852241278
      978-1852241278
      ISBN-10 1852241276
      Also in:
      Contemporary Fiction

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      'He was indeed the nearest anybody ever got to Charlie Chaplin in print...the sentences skid and dance and hop on one leg or take a custard pie right on the chin or duck and weave and leave you gasping behind. But he is more for the wry smile than the belly laugh'. This was how Sid Chaplin described Jack Common, author of two of the best working-class novels of the 20th century, and 'the best prose writer to come from the North-East of England'. "Kiddar's Luck", his first novel, was a commercial flop when it first appeared. It has since been called a 'neglected masterpiece', remarkable for its 'linguistic mastery and insights into the lives of working people, free of illusions and false heroics' (Richard Kelly in "The Independent"). Common's semi-autobiographical novel tells the story of a boy, Willie Kiddar, his first 14 years, from conception on a Sunday afternoon to leaving school during the First World War.

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