Stars are Stars - Softcover

Sampson, Kevin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0224073044 ISBN 13: 9780224073042

Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd, 2006

Synopsis

At the age of fifteen Danny May has just one dream: to be an artist, and to go - like John Lennon before him - to Liverpool Art School. Living in Toxteth with his mother and five sisters, Danny meets Nicole and falls in love. She's clever, politically aware, and astonished at how unworldly an inner-city kid can be. In the autumn of 1980, Danny receives the devastating news that the Art School's funding has been withdrawn by the new Tory government. He slides into apathy, robbing, drug dependency. Nicole stands by him, trying desperately to break his depression, but when he burgles her parents' house she abandons him and leaves for Paris. Their love affair, played out to a soundtrack of Bowie and Joy Division, is grand, romantic and doomed. Then, in July 1981, he finds himself sucked into the longest, most exhilarating and frightening day of his life. Set on fire by rioters, Toxteth is ablaze. Danny, transfixed, starts to paint versions of the same picture, over and over again. His subject is Toxteth in flames. He writes to Nicole, a cry for help. She hears him and tracks him down.

About this title

Review:

"Magnificent. I loved every beautiful page of it" -- Zoe Silver, BBC's The Culture Show

"My book of the summer" -- Colin Murray, Radio 5

"Poignant, exciting and beautifully observed" -- Brian Reade, The Mirror

"Superb, page-turning read - and what a soundtrack!" -- Boyd Hilton, Heat/Radio 5

"'Stars are Stars' has a solid emotional core" -- Time Out

'Buzzing with post-punk energy and righteous indignation'
-- Independent on Sunday, 11/09/06

From the Publisher:

A brilliant new novel about the impact of Thatcherism on a generation - by the author of Awaydays and Powder.

About this edition

• Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0224073044
• ISBN 13: 9780224073042
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256