The Sayles might not have been the only Jewish atheist communist family in Liverpool, but Alexei knew from an early age that they were one of the more eccentric. Born on the day egg rationing came to an end, Alexei was the only child of Joe, an affable trade unionist who led the family on railway expeditions across eastern Europe, and Molly, a hot-tempered red-head who terrified teachers and insisted Alexei see the Red Army Choir instead of the Beatles. Perceptive and hilarious, this is a portrait of a family, a city, a country and a continent going through enormous changes.

Above a small village in Spain, an English costume designer sees a bright shining star lurch abruptly across the sky.On Christmas Day a strong, silent man with blank eyes enters Bar Noche Azul. Only a thirteen year old boy could have guessed that there was any connection between the two. Wonderfully inventive, darkly funny and thoughtful, MISTER ROBERTS is both an original coming-of-age story and an unusual take on the corrupting influence of power.

'Enlightening ... Funny, smart, original and provocative ... It is hard to imagine the stalwarts of Mock the Week recognising the Druze militia leader Walid Jumblatt in a London cinema' NEW STATESMAN 'Few standups have come close to capturing a fraction of this creative energy in a book ... Alexei Sayle is an exception' GUARDIAN "What I brought to comedy was an authentic working-class voice plus a threat of genuine violence - nobody in Monty Python looked like a hard case who'd kick your head in." In 1971, comedians on the working men's club circuit imagined that they would be free to continue telling their tired, racist, misogynistic gags forever. But their nemesis, a nineteen-year-old Marxist art student, was slowly coming to meet them... Thatcher Stole My Trousers chronicles a time when comedy and politics united in electrifying ways. Recounting the founding of the Comedy Store, the Comic Strip and the Young Ones, and Alexei's friendships with the comedians who - like him - would soon become household names, this is a unique and beguiling blend of social history and memoir. Fascinating, funny, angry and entertaining, it is a story of class and comedy, politics and love, fast cars and why it's difficult to foul a dwarf in a game of football.

The acclaimed BARCELONA PLATES revealed Alexei Sayle as a writer with an outstanding ability to describe contemporary life in an unusual way. Now, in his new collection THE DOG CATCHER, he brilliantly captures the morals and absurdities of our so-called 'cool' culture, populated by characters as recognizable as they are memorable. THE DOG CATCHER will confirm Alexei Sayle's reputation as not only one of the great exponents of the short story genre, but also as a profound commentator on the way we live now.

A septuagenarian contract killer, a chronic hypochondriac, two zombie-creating comedians, a good Samaritan and a man called Barnaby whose holiday takes an unexpected turn. In these sleek and witty tales, described by Loaded as 'an excellent collection of dark, funny and bizarre short stories', Alexei Sayle's characters are vividly, wryly - and occasionally disturbingly - portrayed. Their voices, and the stories they have to tell will remain in the mind for a long, long time.

'A funny, frightening book that is also refreshingly bonkers' Guardian 'A brilliant writer...a great novelist' Richard and Judy Northern girl Harriet lives and works on a London estate which is a battleground between the white working class plus the immigrants versus the newly arrived middle class focaccia-eaters. Unhappy and overweight, she hires a personal trainer who lures her into joining the martial arts class he runs. There she learns the regime of the completely phoney martial arts master and embarks on a spiritual and literal journey which leads her to a hotel opposite the railway station at Crewe, the Weeping Women Hotel. 'If you like your weirdness with warmth and wit, Sayle's your man' Metro

Kelvin is a 33-year-old property developer living in a small Lancashire town. He has five close friends, all in well-paid jobs. Having bought their lovely houses cheaply in the early 1990s, they are free to spend money on their own pleasures - particularly clothes, meals and cars. Most of all, their life revolves around going to see things - art exhibitions, comedians, live music, plays...When we first meet the six friends they are on their way to see a new kind of circus. Once there Kelvin does something unforgivable to a clown, has a strange snack and meets the most beautiful girl he has ever seen. It's the beginning of the end of the good life.