Works - Tapa dura

'My father is dead. I simply can't tell you how happy this makes me.' Lucas Cage can now lay claim to the only part of his father's enormous legacy that he ever craved - the disused old printing house hard by the Thames in London which he calls The Works. Lucas is determined that the inherent honesty of the silent building will never be betrayed. Special people - the people who need to be there - will be invited to share it with him: 'the family', as Lucas comes to call them. Jamie Dear is one of those who grasps the opportunity to escape a small and nasty flat he can ill afford and a wife who jeers his very eagerness to be close to Lucas. Jamie emerges as a catalyst linking the lives of all the other disparate souls, while the calm and omniscient spirit of Lucas hovers above the interaction of relationships, sexual tensions and ambiguities. In The Works, Joseph Connolly brilliantly lures us into the dynamics of the group, the intricacies and rhythms of each individual, intimately exploring the larger themes of dependency, partnership, frailty, lust and patronage. It will surely confirm Connolly's reputation as one of the most gifted and celebrated contemporary novelists at work today.

Joseph Connolly is the best-selling author of Poor Souls, This Is It, Stuff, Summer Things, Winter Breaks, S.O.S., It Can't Go On, The Works, Love is Strange and Jack the Lad and Bloody Mary. He has also written several works of non-fiction, including admired biographies of Jerome K. Jerome and P. G. Wodehouse.