Scumbler

A joyous novel of art, love, and one man’s unquenchable thirst for life, from one of America’s best loved authors.

Sixty-year-old American painter Scumbler (‘Scum’ to his friends) makes a living by creating rentable apartments out of the most unlikely Parisian spaces. He spends his days jaunting around the Left Bank in Paris, stopping regularly to paint, and revelling in the art of creation and the remarkable characters he meets along the way: students, prostitutes, and craftsmen, like him. At night he returns to his wife and children. He is an undeniable success. He should be happy.

And yet, Scumbler is pestered by the unavoidable symptoms of his age: the grey hair, the aches, the increasing waistline. Scumbler knows he must face up to the fact of his mortality, but he is adamant about doing so in his own inimitable way.

Reviews

‘An enjoyable rompint book’ – Guardian

‘Racy, pacy and often eye-wateringly funny’ – Standard

‘Even better than ‘Birdy’’ – Chicago Tribune‘Most memorable… Wharton is exceptionally gifted’ JOHN FOWLES

About the author

William Wharton was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1925. During the Second World War, Wharton served in the US army, until an injury led to his discharge. In 1978, Wharton’s first novel, ‘Birdy’, was published to critical acclaim. Before his death in 2008, Wharton penned 8 further novels, and 3 memoirs. The most recent memoir, ‘Shrapnel’, was published for the first time in English in 2012.