Young Man on a Bicycle: and The Goldini Bath

(Paperback)

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Description

Young Paul Ashcroft has travelled to the beautiful French Riviera. His goal: to make a lot of money. His methods: more than questionable. Following his motto 'the world owes me a living', he steals and swindles - using what he needs for himself and passing on the rest to those less fortunate.

After coming across the beautiful Villa Triton, he disguises himself as M. Durobat, a middle-aged Frenchman, to inspect the villa and to pawn the owner's ornaments and paintings. At the local Casino, he becomes acquainted with the rich ladies of the resort. As he steals their jewellery, he blames the robberies on 'Gringo the Greek', a small crook he knew a long time ago.

But just as Paul's schemes and tricks start to be fruitful and he falls in love with the intriguing Elise Benoit, the real Gringo the Greek appears on the scene, ready to take on the cunning thief who has been blaming him all this time...

Reviews

Praise for Victor Canning:

Quite delightful with an atmosphere of quiet contentment and humour thatcannot fail to charmDaily Telegraph

There issuch a gentle humourin the bookDaily Sketch

What counts for most in the story is hismounting pleasure in vagabondage and the English sceneThe Times

A paean to the beauties of the English countryside andthe lovable oddities of the English characterNew York Times

His delight at the beauties of the countryside and hismild astonishment at the strange ways of men are infectiousDaily Telegraph

A swift-moving novel,joyous, happy and incurably optimisticEvening Standard

His gift of story-telling is obviously innate.Rarely does one come on so satisfyingan amalgam of plot, characterisation and good writingPunch

Author Bio

Victor Canningwas a prolific writer throughout his career, which began young: he had sold several short stories by the age of nineteen and his first novel,Mr Finchley Discovers His England(1934) was published when he was twenty-three. It proved to be a runaway bestseller. Canning also wrote for children: his trilogyThe Runawayswas adapted for US children's television. Canning's later thrillers were darker and more complex than his earlier work and received further critical acclaim.