Violence and sex in a small Southern city. Arkie, Clemmie, Oxie, and Johns are linked by a schoolboy's prank. Arkie, Clemmie, and Oxie are three of a kind: cons who grub for small change. They have no history and no future. Johns is their counterpart in a brighter universe. His thievery is sanctioned because he's Family in a small Southern city. Arkie: Suddenly it occurred to him that this street, Gimlet Street, could take you anywhere in the world, it was joined to all the other streets there were. He shook his head, grinning. This was his territory. He was chained to Gimlet and he was chained to Clemmie, that green-eyed girl he was so helplessly in love with. "Chappell has outstanding gifts as a writer!" — Southern Observer "Chappell writes like a whiz!" — Book Week "Chappell writes with imagination and descriptive grace!" — Los Angeles Times "Chappell is a powerful and demanding and uncompromising writer…very powerful and impressive!" —Greensboro Daily NewsFred Chappell is the Poet Laureate of North Carolina.