WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE
WINNER OF THE WHITBREAD FIRST NOVEL PRIZE
WINNER OF THE BOLLINGER PRIZE FOR COMIC FICTION

Meet fifteen-year-old Vernon Gregory Little. Desperate times call for the most unlikely of heroes.

Fifteen-year-old Vernon Gregory Little is in trouble. And it has something to do with the recent massacre of 16 students at his high school. News of the tragedy serves as open invitation to the media and soon the quirky backwater of Martirio is flooded with wannabe CNN hacks all too keen to lay the blame for the killings at Vernon's feet. Eulalio Ledesma, in particular, sniffs out his opportunity to make good at Vernon's expense and soon Vernon finds himself drawn into a series of increasingly bizarre (to say nothing of life-threatening) circumstances. Eventually, with the LSD safely deposited and diluted in the ginseng, he succumbs to the workings of Fate and takes off for Mexico and a date - or so he hopes - with the divine Taylor Figueroa.

'Startling . . . explosive and extravagantly satisfying.' Guardian

'Dangerous, smart, ridiculous and very funny.' New York Times