Publisher's Synopsis
This is the personal Odyssey of a wannabe writer, Noxie Norris, who feels trapped running a pub-an enterprise he does not care for. The problem is that his wife, Amanda, is co-manager with him, and she loves the pub business. Their employer, Biggles & Co., has a policy of only employing 'couples" to run their pubs. If he goes, she too must go. Norris becomes a closet compulsive gambler. He steals from his employer to feed his habit-perhaps unwittingly or with a subconscious desire to be caught so that he may break free from his predicament. Guilt and the ever-accumulating deficit in the pub safe encourage him to confess his crime, for which he is imprisoned. While doing 'time," he reflects upon his apparent failure to make any notable mark in life, and so contemplates a life of celibacy, fasting and prayer as an expeditious path to God, in preference to that which cherishes the mundane and the material-his life hitherto. The drama essentially unfolds in the recesses of his mind, with the foreign goings on in the prison being both food for thought and a catalyst for the changes he would ultimately make. Each circumstance and character he encounters plays a role in the development of who he is to become: in Eddie, his cell mate, he finds a reflection of himself-the part he most detests; in Governor R. H. Johnson, he finds a rock upon which his ego would break; in Sparky, the flatulent sparrow, he finds an imaginary friend; in 'Luscious Lynne," the warder, he finds the sternest test of his aspirations for celibacy; in the routine of prison life, he finds freedom; in his contemplation of the plight he has forced upon Amanda, he finds forgiveness; and in God, he finds his redemption. Noxie'sspiritual struggle and eventual awakening provide the subject for his best selling book, Prison Food Ain't So Bad. This riveting account of personal tribulation maintains an intricate balance between humorous fable, somber ponderance and insightful commentary on the human condition. Above all, it furnishes the key to unlock the mystery of one's greatest challenge: understanding the meaning of life-one's own life. Ruminating upon Norris' antics, the astute reader will recognize in his acute addiction, their own compulsive habits which prevent them from becoming the ideal person they long to be. It is, indeed, rich food for thought and.life!
