Andy dreams of leopards. When he has unprotected sex with a man tattooed from head to foot with animals, he believes he may be pregnant. Meanwhile Penny, the young woman whose council house he shares, has started an affair with a club-footed body builder whom Andy believes is beneath her. Their street, Phoenix Court, abounds with secrets and suspicion. All the while, Penny's mother, the transvestite Liz, lies in a coma in Bishop Auckland hospital. While the street waits to see her wake and hear what it is like on the other side, Andy runs away to Edinburgh to sample the wicked delights of the city and to give birth to Jep, his leopard child. Paul Magrs blends acute observation of the humdrum with an exceptional understanding of the foibles and aspirations of his characters, creating a unique world in which the arrival of milkmen and buses may be predictable, but life isn't.
- ISBN10 0099268736
- ISBN13 9780099268734
- Publish Date 7 January 1999 (first published 15 January 1998)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 10 August 2021
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Vintage
- Edition New edition
- Format Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
- Pages 327
- Language English