Whiteadder/Wolfspider

Whiteadder, 1973. Fresh from tour, psychedelic folk band Once Upon A Time relocate to a row of dilapidated cottages in the Scottish Borders to 'get it together in the country'. Among their entourage on the banks of the Whiteadder river is thirteen-year-old Kit, the sole child in a commune of naïve adults pursuing a fading Sixties idyll of self-sufficiency. Then out of the wilderness arrives Jonathan. A darkly charismatic fan of the band whose own history is shrouded in secrecy, he quickly infiltrates the community and upends its established hierarchies. Only Kit can see how dangerous this outsider's mind games and proclivities really are. As winter draws in and a devastating storm hits, he is forced into drastic measures that will turn him into an adult before his time. Wolfspider, 1974. Forced to flee the commune, Kit runs away to London. He journeys deep into the dark side of the city, from the 'meat rack' of Piccadilly Circus and Soho amusement arcades populated by predators to private Bayswater parties and the safety of the squat scene of Ladbroke Grove. But Kit is still haunted by the terrible violence he left buried in the Borders. When Once Upon A Time return to play a chaotic, drug-addled festival high in the hills of Yorkshire, Kit is dragged back into their world. But the dream is over - and he is determined to take control of his life once and for all. Part mindbending puzzle-box, part kaleidoscopic nightmare, Whiteadder/Wolfspider can be read forwards or backwards, upside down or right-side up. A haunting, visionary and exhilarating epic about the death of the Sixties dream, the comedown of the decaying Seventies, music, mythology and failed utopias, it is a triumphant work by one of the most exciting writers at work today.