Paths

After growing up in difficult circumstances, Joe finds himself involved in criminal activities during 1960s London. Relationships are never straightforward, but they lead him to a career as a cabbie (although old inclinations are never entirely left behind.) A semi-autobiographical novel, it is nonetheless emotionally honest, and the reader feels the protagonist’s pain, along with his pleasure.

With violence in the genes and a family tradition of poverty stretching back generations, could Joe Ward have become anything other than a criminal? With a childhood largely spent in children’s homes and borstal, and only the wrong sorts of comfort on offer, by the time Joe reached adulthood he was ready for the easy pleasures of theft, casual sex and drugs available in 1960s London. Murder and supergrass trials were a regular part of his life and the journey towards self-destruction seemed inevitable, but when Joe made the promise to his wife that he would never go to prison more than once, she would ensure that he kept this vow and new possibilities opened up. In this autobiographical novel Joe Ward, criminal turned cabbie, takes readers with him on an emotionally honest journey of loyalty and betrayal, lust and longing, in his search for love in all its forms and complexity.