'There is another world, and it is in this one.' Pearly James is fed up with being lonely. She's fed up with her pointless, boring school life. And she's deeply fed up with the fake, numbing, conformist world of screen culture that seems to enslave all her schoolmates. She just knows there must be something more. Change is what she really wants, but who or what will make it happen? Enter Bernard O'Hare, the computer genius with his trademark black overcoat and green, staring eyes... Both an adventure and a cry against the new global conformity, Tramp Life is the story of how one girl discovers another world hidden behind humdrum existence. A world of danger and delight, music, madness...and maybe friendship, too.

For about twenty years Tony worked as an academic and researcher, specialising in English Renaissance drama. In 2008, however, he was forced to abandon his academic career because of ill health. In retrospect he sees this as one of the best things that have ever happened to him, because it allowed him to concentrate on writing.