James Allen Mitchell

Piccadilly Circus James Allen Mitchell Standard Shelf edition

When a group of former British colonialists retire to a sleepy Portuguese village, all hell breaks loose. They take over 'Millionaire Hill' and unleash the loose morals and naughty behavior which would have earned them nothing but scorn back home. As transplanted expatriates living like kings and queens in an impoverished country, they feel perfectly entitled to drink away their days and lust away their nights, always pining away for the good old days of their youth, when the British Empire was still a power. The outbreak of the Falklands War revives their patriotism and self-respect briefly but, in the end, the war becomes a powerful metaphor for the decadent, less relevant empire that they have created. With nothing but money and time on their hands, they entertain themselves in one debauchery after another. Trouble finds them around every corner; misadventure becomes their only companion. Only one honorable Englishman manages to stand head and shoulders above the moral chaos all around him. Copper Jack is a voice of reason among the irrational. He is a throwback character to a better time and place. Copper's tempestuous marriage to Tookie Jack is his only tragic flaw and it brings him to the brink of self-destruction along with his fellow countrymen. In the end, Piccadilly Circus is first and foremost a literary love story, but the novel is also a powerful reminder of life's lessons and that love alone is not always enough.