My Lovely Carthage - J D Jones

Some talk about the era of Thatcherism as the decade of greed, and the birth of a new technological revolution. Yet few works of fiction have considered the imaginative possibilities of looking at the Eighties as a dark fantasy addressing the "special relationship" between Britain and America. There are even fewer voices who look back on this period and try to relate it to the social and political atmosphere of England today. My Lovely Carthage is the first book to bring the Eighties back to a contemporary audience in a way that is colourful, visceral, and thought provoking.

Set towards the end of the British Miners' Strike, it is a fictional account of events during that period told through the eyes of a young man Johnny Finde, who divides his time between working in a Cancer Research shop and running a local club called Harvard's. Recovering from a car accident which has left him with a damaged memory and missing two fingers he becomes intrigued by a man in a grey suit who he recognizes incognito as the American actor and icon Lee Marvin. Coming across a copy of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Last Tycoon, these two seemingly unconnected events come to play a pivotal role in how Johnny regains his memory as Lee helps him to track down his ex-girlfriend and discover the truth behind what really happened.

A morality tale with no morals whatsoever, involving revenge, a Hollywood legend, and a girl with perfect skin and a seven-inch scar, My Lovely Carthage brings the Eighties back to a contemporary audience in a way that is colorful, visceral, and thought provoking.