Big Des's Thai Angel — Paul Lyons

It's the morning of Des's wedding in a village in the mountains of Northern Thailand. Oy looks ravishing in her traditional Thai sheath but Des feels a bit uncomfortable in his Yul Brynner sash, rope crown and tonne bag pants.When you marry a working girl, even one as big-hearted and lovely as Oy, she's bound to bring a bit of baggage from her past. Romford Sauna in particular. More especially a geezer called Lucky, the bastard boss of Romford Sauna.Big Des isn't complaining. He's got baggage of his own, a philandering father, an alcoholic mother, his brilliant daughter having a nervous breakdown in Oxford, a coke-head son. It still would have been nice if any of them had bothered to turn up. They had invitations. Des is on his own with three hundred partying Thais. It's his wedding morning and not even his best mate Tony has shown his face, but Tony's sure to be here, he's smuggling the last of Des's money— from the sale of his truck— into the country, and Tony's never let him down yet. Paul Lyons' first novel, 'The Eden Man', won a London Times Book of the Year Award. The Guardian said that  'The Eden Man' 'was sure not to be a one hit wonder' and praised its 'laugh-out-loud humour.' Paul Lyons received a New Writers Fellowship from the Australian Literature Board.