A Crafty Cigarette Tales Of A Teenage Mod

A Crafty Cigarette is the powerful story of a teenager coming of age in the 70s as seen through his eyes, who on the cusp of adulthood, discovers a band that is new to him, which leads him into becoming a Mod. A mischievous youth prone to naughtiness, he takes to mod like a moth to a flame, which in turn gives him a voice, confidence and a fresh new outlook towards life, his family, his school friends, girls and the world in general. Growing up in Sunbury -on-Thames where he finds life rather dull and hard to make friends, he moves across the river with his family to Walton -on -Thames in 1979, the year of the Mod Revival, where to his delight he finds many other Mods his age and older, and slowly but surely he starts to become accepted and furthermore, soon becomes a leading light within the young Mods of his peer group. A Crafty Cigarette is the metamorphosis of youth, embodied with a rebirth of key characters upon hearing the opening chords of The Jam's song 'All Mod Cons'. Then growing up to a frantic pace in keeping with Weller's shouted '1.2.3.4' intro. Written in the first person the book rocks along at a fast clip, on a par with a super charged Jam single...A compelling narrative with the key character struggling to find his identity against the backdrop of the late 70s chaos. "I couldn't put it down because I couldn't put it down." John Cooper Clarke August 2015