Born into the emerging middle classes of the 1950s, Billy Childish takes us on a nightmarish voyage through a childhood blighted by mental and sexual abuse. Stumbling onward into adolescence he lays bare a young man's desperate attempts to make sense of a world distorted by alcohol, bullies and yes men, This striking first novel, or 'creative confession', is at turns hilarious and harrowing. Laced with lindes of unforgettable poetry it is that rare and wonderful thing - a book which had to be written.