White Trash - Softcover

John King

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1629632279 ISBN 13: 9781629632278

Publisher: PM Press, 2016

Synopsis

HARD-HITTING NOVEL THAT KEEPS THE CORE PUNK ETHOS ALIVE

John King, best-selling author of The Football Factory, chronicles the struggle between rich and poor in this strong defence of socialised medicine.

Ruby James lives life to the full, the state-run hospital where she works as a nurse a microcosm of the community in which she was born and bred. While some outsiders might label the people of this town 'white trash', she knows different, revelling in a vibrant society that values people over money, actions above words. For Ruby, every person is unique and has a story to tell, whether it is skinhead taxi-driver Steve, retired teacher and rocker Pearl, magic-mushroom expert Danny Wax Cap, or former merchant seaman Ron Dawes. She encourages people to tell their tales, thrilled by the images created. The epitome of positive thinking, Ruby sees the best in everyone - until the day true evil comes to call.

A mystery figure roams the corridors of Ruby's state-run hospital. He carries special medicine and a very different set of values. He tells himself that he wants to help, increase efficiency, but cost-cutting leads to social cleansing as humans are judged according to that white-trash agenda. Excuses and justifications flow as notions of heaven and hell are distorted. Set against a background of pirate-radio stations, pink Cadillacs, and freeway dreams, WHITE TRASH insists there is no such thing as white trash.

About this title

Review:

"Complete and unique, all stitched up and marvelous, the two sides of the equation brought together, realistic yet philosophical." --Alan Sillitoe, author of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

"The cumulative effect of King's style is astonishingly powerful in its detail and depth. A quarter of a century after punk rock, the core punk ethos of a robust and adaptable form of resistance, based on inclusive, DIY community-making and a concentration on immediacy is still inspiring some of our most vital writers. An immensely timely and necessary book: stylish, witty, and passionate. It's about time someone slapped the smugness from the face of broadsheet Britain." --Independent

"King is a writer who adeptly avoids cliche and caricature and is one of the most accomplished chroniclers of contemporary life. White Trash is very much a state of the nation book." --Big Issue North

"White Trash tones down the severe language of King's football hooligan trilogy, but his themes rich versus poor, state versus individual remain as explicit as ever." --GQ"The sharpest commentator on modern times is back, with a plot running so close to the bone it's almost skeletal." --The List

From the Publisher:

White Trash is a riveting story of class-hatred and murder set in a hospital in a satellite town in the south-east of England.

About this edition

• Publisher: PM Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1629632279
• ISBN 13: 9781629632278
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288