Essex Nights
Joseph Ridgwell
248pgs
 
This is early Ridgwell, the first installment in a series of seven books chronicling the fast life and strange times of Beat vagabond - Joseph Jago. In Essex Nights, we find Jago saying sayonara to an underwhelming and underachieving state education and about to enter the dreaded but unavoidable world of work. From here on in, Jago embarks on a series of dead end jobs, from city messenger to carpet fitter and apprentice upholsterer, junior sales rep, toy salesman and builders labourer, to finally working in a ceramic tile warehouse, where Jago plots his eventual escape from endless drudgery.
 
Sandwiched in between the high turnover of jobs is Jago’s hectic social life, a whirlwind of girlfriends, sex, drugs, boozing, and petty criminality. Accompanying Jago on his hedonistic pursuits is his literary sidekick, Ronnie Perrot, as they crawl from one pub, bar, and nightclub to another in this fast-paced and riveting novel.