Dunpeckham By Johnny Mack

Johnny Mack was born in Peckham, South-East London, an only child to loving but strict parents. In the first volume of his memoirs, Dunpeckham, he described his indoctrination into the criminal fraternity and his life of crime, violence, addiction and prison. In Landed on the Moon Johnny recounts his efforts to change his way of life after being swindled in an unsuccessful scam in London. As such, he moved to the Isle of Wight to start a new life. However, when he arrived there from the city mean streets, he felt like such an outsider, it was as if he had landed on the moon. He used all his resourcefulness to provide for himself and his loyal wife and family in ways that were not always legitimate. This, his second book, is told with the same earthiness and brutal honesty that characterised Dunpeckham but with an added poignancy. Johnny found that in order to gain the peace of mind that had always eluded him, he had to lose almost everything.