"Terrific. Propulsive, funny and touching. It moves as fast as the dog in trap 1 at Harringay." -- Sebastian Faulks, author of Devil May Care "A wonderfully enduring novel about seedy post-war English criminal life. Rich characterisation underpinned by a wholly authentic and compelling voice. A great re-discovery." -- William Boyd, author of Gabriel's Moon "A subcultural classic."-- Jon Savage, author of This Searing Light, the Sun, and Everything Else "The most perfectly proportioned London novel, capturing the grind of scheming, dreaming, struggle - and, of course, the city in all its grime and glory.

" -- Benjamin Myers, author of The Gallows Pole "The wonder of The Lowlife is that it does justice to a place of so many contradictions . One of the best fictions, the truest accounts of [Hackney]" -- Iain Sinclair "A beautifully observed, understated study of an East End Jewish gambler.something of an underground cult." -- John L. Williams, Guardian "A visceral rendering of a city on the cusp between the Ration Book Fifties and the Swinging Sixties." -- Cathi Unsworth "A short-odds favourite for the finest British novel about addiction." -- Paul Willetts "Emile Zola meets Patrick Hamilton in one of the great post-war London novels, a seedy but soulful study of bruised characters struggling to survive on the fringes of convention." -- Peter Watts "A reflective gem of London literature.

" -- John King "As a vivid depiction of a long-gone London that's still strangely familiar, The Lowlife is an essential novel of the city, its power undiminished."-- Gary Budden "Exquisitely depicting the changing face of post-war Britain, The Lowlife is a highly moving book, which, like Harryboy Boas, is also often very funny and never entirely without hope." -- Lee Stuart Evans, author of Pleasantly Disturbed "A fascinating snapshot of a lost London world, by a remarkable, unjustly neglected writer." -- Sarah Waters.