China Dreams — Sid Smith

For weeks they went all over London on the little red Honda, weaving up hills at walking speed, down alleys and pavements, through shopping precincts, warm in the late-summer nights . . . and he'd park outside pubs, proud of his China girl . . .

For Tom it was a wonderful summer. Innocent, broke and slightly awestruck on his arrival in London, he was working as a delivery boy at a Chinese takeaway. Then May, the daughter of the owner, became his love.

But suddenly, inexplicably, Tom loses his home, his job and his beloved.

A squat, then a battered green van, become his refuge, his longing for May his one obsession. As Tom travels through the desperate sub cultures of low-life London, he is also caught up in his dreams about China, each more vivid and shocking than the last.

China Dreams is dazzling, disturbing, lyrical and occasionally fearsome â€" a stunning literary achievement.