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You'll Be Big, Some Day

by Lawrence Pitman & Monica Crooks

483 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #02-0301; ISBN 1-55369-488-0; US$35.50, C$40.83, EUR29.50, £20.50

A Canadian memoir that evokes strong images as it depicts a young boy growing up in the 1940s in an atmosphereof racial and religious intolerance. It is a panoramic journey of lost innocence, assumed identity and justice.

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about the book      about the author      sample excerpts      catalogue info

About the Book This book is a memoir that begins in the early 1940s and explores the darker side of Canadian life. Bullied and taunted due to his small stature and Asian appearance, Larry Pitman leaves his small Ontario town for the thrill and excitement of Montréal. Lured by the nightlife and the hypnotic music and 'tough guy' image of Sinatra, he drifts into a shadowy realm of seamy bars and criminal activity. Larry's story is told in his own matter of fact and taut style and evokes strong images that play across the reader's mental screen. The journey is panoramic - encompassing longing, injustice, prejudice, alienation, assumed identity, justice and the "stress of respectability".

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About the Author

Lawrence Pitman has a M.A. in Social Policy. He has published articles in a number of respected criminology journals and spoken at numerous international criminology conferences.

Monica Crooks holds a M.A. in English Literature and has had articles published in magazines and newspapers including a biography of Hilaire Belloc which was published in the Dictionary of Literary Biography.

Larry met Monica five years ago in a Life Writing class she was teaching. Monica accepted Larry's invitation to work with him to produce this book.

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Sample Excerpts

From Chapter One

On Saturday morning I packed my only suitcase. At noon-hour, I left to cash my cheque and purchase a Grey-hound ticket for New York City. After lunch I returned to my dingy rooming house abode. I didn't notice that the door wasn't locked. As I placed a key in the lock, the door was ripped open from the inside. Four arms reached out and flung me hard against a wall. A third FBI agent pointed a .38 Special, as I was being cuffed and searched.

"Lawrence Raymond Pitman, you are being taken into custody under a warrant of arrest issued by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Montréal, Canada."

"Get serious," I said, shaking like a leaf. "My name is Franklin Desmond and I've never been in Canada."

"We know who you are - down to the diamond pinkie on your right hand and that scar on your chin."

I was terrified. My whole body was trembling. I don't feel very big right now, Auntie, I was thinking. Not big at all...

 

From Chapter Eight

...I was at an impressionable age. I had seen some gambling in New Jersey and had viewed the lifestyle of show girls and one hooker. But I was hardly a "man of the world." The music of Sinatra and his hip 'tough guy' image appealed to me. It wasn't long until I felt the lure of night life on the streets of Montréal. I roamed the district taking in the sights, sounds and smell of it. It was thrilling. It seemed that the sun always shone during that first summer. Even the rain could not dampen my thirst for more knowledge of my city...

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Catalogue Information

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