{"product_id":"9781504038560","title":"A Start in Life","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn outrageously funny novel of adventure, sex, corruption, and crime from one of the greatest British authors of the twentieth century.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Michael Cullen is proud to be a bastard. His first memories are of the war, when his mother welcomed every soldier in Britain into her house, and young Michael hid beneath her bed to let the rocking of the springs lull him to sleep. By the time he’s eighteen, he’s got a pregnant girlfriend, and is staring down a long life of working-class respectability that simply makes him sick. So Michael says goodbye to his girlfriend and his home in Nottingham, and hits the road for London, where he will make his fortune—or die trying.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e From the nightclubs of Soho to the depths of London’s underworld, Michael can’t help but get into trouble. But whether he’s chauffeuring a vicious gangster or smuggling gold bullion across the channel, he never stops having a wonderful time. Indeed, Michael is something else entirely: a happy bastard with nothing to lose.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A rollicking picaresque novel by the legendary author of such classics of kitchen sink realism as \u003ci\u003eThe Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eSaturday Night and Sunday Morning\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eA Start in Life\u003c\/i\u003e is one of the funniest British novels of the twentieth century.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A Start in Life \u003ci\u003eis the 1st book in the Michael Cullen Novels, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “\u003ci\u003eA Start in Life\u003c\/i\u003e is, for my money, the best novel that Sillitoe has yet written.” —\u003ci\u003eNew Statesman\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “The kind of hilarious nonsense that keeps you riveted to deck-chair or arm-chair, depending on the season.” —\u003ci\u003eThe Daily Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for Alan Sillitoe\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “The master of British verbal architecture.” —\u003ci\u003eRolling Stone\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Alan Sillitoe (1928–2010) was a British novelist, poet, essayist, and playwright, known for his honest, humorous, and acerbic accounts of working-class life. Sillitoe served four years in the Royal Air Force and lived for six years in France and Spain, before returning to England. His first novel, \u003ci\u003eSaturday Night and Sunday Morning\u003c\/i\u003e, was published in 1958 and was followed by a collection of short stories, \u003ci\u003eThe Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner\u003c\/i\u003e, which won the Hawthornden Prize for Literature. With over fifty volumes to his name, Sillitoe was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1997.\u003cbr\u003e  ","brand":"Open Road Media","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47127172284656,"sku":"9781504038560","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781504038560_p0.jpg?v=1769897331","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781504038560","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}