Publisher Description

A fascinating quest for one of London's legendary characters'REVELATORY' - DAILY TELEGRAPH *****'FASCINATING' - OBSERVER'ENGROSSING' - DAILY MAIL'You'll worry at your hunger to keep on reading, but you won't be able to stop' - GUARDIAN, Book of the YearDavid Litvinoff was one of the great mythic characters of '60s London.Flitting between the worlds of music, art and crime, he exerted a hidden influence that helped create the Krays twins' legend, connected the Rolling Stones with London's dark side, shaped the plot of classic film Performance - and saw him immortalised in a portrait by Lucian Freud.Litvinoff's determination to live without trace means that his life has always eluded biographers, until now. Intent on unravelling the enigma of Litvinoff, Keiron Pim conducted 100 interviews over five years, speaking to Eric Clapton and Marianne Faithfull, James Fox and 'Mad' Frankie Fraser. The result is an extraordinary feat of research that traces a rogue's progress amongst aristocrats, gangsters and rock stars.

Notes

Paperback edition of the biography of David Litvinoff, a figure of the 1960s counterculture in London whose life flitted between the worlds of music, art and crime. Features interviews with Eric Clapton, Marianne Faithfull, 'Mad' Frankie Fraser, Martin Sharp and many others.

Author Biography

Keiron Pim is aged 38, married with three young daughters and lives in Norwich, where he was for a decade the literary editor of the Eastern Daily Press newspaper before leaving to concentrate on writing books. He is the author of The Bumper Book of Dinosaurs (Square Peg) and he edited and introduced Into the Light- the Medieval Hebrew Poetry of Meir of Norwich, the first translated edition of England's only major medieval Hebrew poet.

Review

You'll worry at your hunger to keep on reading, but you won't be able to stop. * Guardian, Book of the Year *
The rock'n'roll legend of David Litvinoff is given its definitive account. A considerable work of detection and human sympathy unpicking old myths and making them new. -- Iain Sinclair
This surely has the most startling beginning of any biography to be published this year… Vivid, engrossing… Pim gives an all too graphic picture of the seedy 1950s… He is compassionate and humane at every moment. His prose is always careful and stylish. -- Richard Davenport-Hines * Guardian *
Blending pop culture, social history and interviews with raddled survivors, Pim reconstructs every scene in Litvinoff's twisted history… Jumpin' Jack Flash provides the missing piece of Swinging London's social jigsaw. -- Dominic Green * Literary Review *
Blending pop culture, social history and interviews with raddled survivors, Pim reconstructs every scene in Litvinoff's twisted history… Jumpin' Jack Flash provides the missing piece of Swinging London's social jigsaw. -- Dominic Green * Literary Review *

Promotional

A fascinating quest for one of London's legendary characters

Prizes

Short-listed for Wales Book of the Year 2017 (UK)
Long-listed for Gordon Burn Prize 2016 (UK)

Review Text

You'll worry at your hunger to keep on reading, but you won't be able to stop .

Review Quote

You'll worry at your hunger to keep on reading, but you won't be able to stop .

Promotional "Headline"

A fascinating quest for one of London's legendary characters

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