Book details

Book description

Set in the underbelly of Victorian London's East End, JOE RAT follows the fortunes of a tosher, Joe, who lives by scavenging in the sewers around the area of Whitechapel. It's a fast-paced and vivid tale of survival in a society which fosters neither friendship nor trust. But Joe comes to know both after a chance encounter with a runaway girl, Bess, and the 'madman' who inhabits Pound's Field. With gangs lurking round every corner and a life spent in the rat-infested tunnels below the streets, Joe needs more than a prime piece of tosh to change his fortunes . . . Mark Barratt was born and bred in London and lives with his wife and three children on a leafy hill not far from the Thames. In a highly varied working career he has been an actor, theatre director, writer and teacher, while always spending as much time as possible fishing. His script for the audio play The Wizard's Spell won a prize for Best Entertainment at the New York Festival in 1994.