"A reading experience that hums with an electric energy that never gets boring and feels shockingly, painfully real." (The Times). 'There's different ways to do it: I can slowly move closer step by step, or I can do it in one movement and bump into them. Easiest is in a pub then I can put my drink too close to theirs. Move my stool near theirs. Anything to cross the line.' Gary is a dipper, a burglar, a thief. He is still at junior school when his father first takes him out on the rob, and proves a fast learner: not much more than a child the first time he gets caught, he is a career criminal as soon as he is out again. But Gary is also fiercely intelligent - he often knows more about the antique furniture he is stealing than the people who own it, and is confident in his ability to trick his way out of any situation, always one step ahead. But all that changes when he falls for Mandy...

About the Author
Nell Leyshon's first novel, Black Dirt, was long-listed for the Orange Prize, and shortlisted for the Commonwealth prize. Her plays include Comfort me with Apples, which won an Evening Standard Award, and Bedlam, which was the first play written by a woman for Shakespeare's Globe. She writes for BBC Radio 3 and 4, and won the Richard Imison Award for her first radio play. Nell was born in Glastonbury and lives in Dorset.

Reviews
Embodies an authenticity more common in non-fiction...short but powerful. Sunday Telegraph Gary's first-person narration grabs us by the collar and drags us through his tale of a life, from childhood to middle-age, on the underbelly of society. Leyshon brilliantly renders his voice, which is forcible, baldly honest, intimate and often blackly funny ... This is a book full of important questions, and I applaud Leyshon for asking them. Guardian Gary is an unusually candid and beguiling narrator The Independent Vivid ... brilliant ... [Gary] is a captivating narrator ... Leyshon has not painted a pretty picture, but it's hard to look away. Financial Times Memoirs of a Dipper is largely based on Leyshon's conversations with real-life former prisoners and addicts...the dialogue is strong and Gary's voice taut throughout. The Sunday Times A reading experience that hums with an electric energy that never gets boring and feels shockingly, painfully real. The Times Leyshon is a master of domestic suspense ... Slender but compelling, the charm of Leyshon's novella is to be found as much in its spare, evocative style as in the moving candour of its narrator Observer on The Colour of Milk Leyshon's spare, dialogue-centred storytelling is lean and vivid... a small potted tragedy, as highly concentrated as a stock cube The Times on The Colour of Milk Spare and beautifully crafted, compelling. Like a love letter to the power of words. Marie Claire on The Colour of Milk



Book Information
ISBN 9780241184240
Author Nell Leyshon
Format Hardback
Page Count 320
Imprint Fig Tree
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 454g
Dimensions(mm) 224mm * 142mm * 28mm