B R O K E

4.9/5 ( ratings)

After years of austerity, life for many people in the UK has been reduced to a treadmill of zero-hour contracts, mounting debts and a crippling anxiety as to where the money is going to come from to pay the next bill. Meanwhile the filthy rich keep adding more and more zeros to their bank balances.

Oscar Knight knows this better than anyone. Juggling two unreliable jobs, he finds himself resorting to ever more desperate measures to keep a roof above his head. As the cracks continue to grow, he finally visits one of London’s most ruthless loan sharks. When this quick fix plan backfires, he realises that only a miracle can save him. And then the opportunity of a lifetime presents itself in the unlikeliest of ways.

Can Oscar do the impossible and find a way of scamming the filthy rich for once? Because if he doesn’t, his own treadmill is ready to buckle…

Broke is not only a scathing satire about life among the dirt poor and an assault on widening inequality in modern Britain; it’s also a brutally fun crime caper which provides hope in a world that’s truly broke.

"Dreyfus writes with the darkly absurd humour of a thirsty and somewhat paranoid Jonathan Swift." —PopMatters

"If his work doesn't make you think, I suggest getting your doctor to prescribe a course of fluoride tablets, subscribe to the Daily Mirror and vote in this year's X Factor." —The Canary