Through her vivid depiction of two very different seaside cultures, Sarah Hall chronicles the remarkable life and times of a misfit tattoo artist.

After a childhood spent helping his eccentric mother run her macabre guest house in Morecombe Bay, Cy Parks is apprenticed to Eliot Riley, the greatest tattoo artist in the northern counties. In the wake of Riley’s violent death, Cy flees to America, where he sets up his own business on the infamous Coney Island boardwalk. In this riotous carnival environment, Cy becomes enamoured with Grace, a mysterious circus performer, who commissions him to cover her body entirely with tattooed eyes.

Shortlisted
The Man Booker Prize 2004
Published by
Faber & Faber
Publication date

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Sarah Hall

Sarah Hall

About the Author

Sarah Hall is a prize magnet; her first five novels were all nominated for high-profile awards. The Electric Michelangelo, her second, started her long association with the Booker Prize.
More about Sarah Hall

Other nominated books by Sarah Hall

How to Paint a Dead Man