'54 - Softcover

Ming, Wu

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099472333 ISBN 13: 9780099472339

Publisher: Arrow, 2006

Synopsis

The year: 1954, the height of the Cold War.

The world is divided into East and West.

In Naples, mafioso Lucky Luciano and his Mafia minions are busy fixing horse-races, and overseeing the creation of the global heroin trade. In Hollywood, some members of Her Majesty's Secret Service have a dangerous mission for the supremely elegant actor Cary Grant. And in Bologna, Pierre Capponi, a lovelorn young barman, is about to embark on a painful odyssey in search of his missing father, one that will end up taking him half-way around the world.

And bringing together all these strands and more is a missing television set, a McGuffin Electric, an appliance with a very special secret...

About this title

About the Author

Wu Ming means 'no name' - and therefore 'anonymous' - in Mandarin Chinese. The five members of the Wu Ming Foundation live in Bologna. Writing as Luther Blissett, their first novel, Q, was longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.

From the Back Cover

A sprawling epic A formidable feat of imagination that moves restlessly between Bologna, Naples, California, Moscow, Dubrovnik and Marseilles... Utterly convincing The Times

The year: 1954, the height of the Cold War.

The world is divided into East and West.

In Naples, Lucky Luciano and his minions are busy fixing horse-races, and overseeing the creation of the global heroin trade.

In Hollywood, some members of Her Majesty s Secret Service have a dangerous mission for the supremely elegant actor Cary Grant.

And in Bologna, Pierre Capponi, a lovelorn young barman, is about to embark on a painful odyssey in search of his missing father, one that will end up taking him half-way around the world.

And bringing together all these strands and more is a missing television set, a McGuffin Electric, an appliance with a very special secret

This diverting post-modernist entertainment is skilled in teasing fact and fiction. Guardian

'Perfect holiday reading Delicious The Wu Ming clan have pulled off [a] coup Their blend of outrageous burlesque and offbeat satire sparkles like a bottle of the best prosecco from a worker s-coop vineyard as many contented readers will notice this summer. Boyd Tonkin, Independent
This new work amply confirms [the authors'] talent Utterly convincing. What emerges is an epic about identity and celebrity, communism and corruption. Scotland on Sunday

Edition details

• Publisher: Arrow
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0099472333
• ISBN 13: 9780099472339
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 560