Tony Hogan Bought Me an Ice-Cream Float Before He Stole My Ma: A Novel

“A witty and lively novel set somewhere between the worlds of Roddy Doyle and Irvine Welsh.” —William Dalyrymple, The Guardian

Reminiscent of early Roddy Doyle, Tony Hogan Bought Me an Ice-Cream Float Before He Stole My Ma begins with our singular heroine’s less than idyllic birth and quickly moves to a spectacular fight that lands Janie and her mother in a local women’s shelter. From there it’s on to a dodgy council flat and a succession of unsuitable men, including the hard-drinking, drug-dealing, ice-cream-buying Tony Hogan. Kerry Hudson’s arrestingly original debut will enthrall readers with Janie’s tragicomic and moving story about coming of age in a non-traditional family amid the absurdities of the 1980s and Thatcherite Britain.

Kerry Hudson was born in Aberdeen, Scotland. Growing up in a succession of council estates provided her with a keen eye for idiosyncratic behaviors, and plenty of material for this, her first novel. She lives and writes in London.