Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man

What makes one of the most gifted, charismatic and successful literary agents in New York fall into full-blown crack-addiction: a collapse that would cost him his business, his home, many of his friends and - very nearly - his life?In his utterly compulsive narrative, Bill Clegg leads us through the grimiest back-rooms of Manhattan's underbelly, through scenes of blank-eyed sex and squalor, into the febrile paranoia of a mind gone out of control.

Préface
A masterful account of a crack-addict's freefall.

Auteur

Bill Clegg is a literary agent in New York. He is also the author of Ninety Days. He lives in New York.

Texte du rabat

'A gripping, graphic memoir that pounds relentlessly to a climax' The Times

What makes one of the most gifted, charismatic and successful young literary agents in New York fall into full-blown crack addiction: a collapse that would cost him his business, his home, many of his friends and - very nearly - his life? In his utterly compulsive narrative, Bill Clegg leads us through the grimiest back-rooms of Manhattan's underbelly, through scenes of blank-eyed sex and squalor, into the febrile paranoia of a mind gone out of control. His story is intercut with terrifying flashbacks to his childhood, where a secret physical condition triggers shame, psychological abuse, and the beginning of a hidden life.

'Audacious' Rose Tremain

'Beautifully measured and adroitly paced...mixing a matter-of-fact eye for detail with just enough emotion to unsettle and engross... Addictive and masterful' Independent

'It has the power and precision of the best contemporary fiction. It does what the best writing always does, which is to make Clegg's experience part of your own' Andrew O'Hagan