Dateline: 1877 Young Sarah Wilson's life in Manchester's Bradford village is turned upside down when she and her recently widowed father, Jebediah, a huge but naively simple man prone to black moods, are evicted from their colliery home after he is fired from his labouring job at the local coal mine for laying out a shift foreman. Jebediah is thrown a lifeline by the owner of a travelling boxing show who offers him a job as a pugilist and he and Sarah tour England with their new 'family'. All goes well until he falls foul of a wealthy landowner's son and certain that he will hang for a...

As a one-armed dwarf who fainted from light-headedness whenever sexy thoughts caused blood to flow into his oversized member, David Ignatius Montgomery Parker didn't have much going for him. But what he did possess however was a remarkable propensity to affect those he came into contact with in a way that was, in some cases, life changing - and in others, life terminating Zelda, an ageing more or less ex-prostitute; Father James, a catholic priest with a crisis of faith; wanabee doctor, Arnold Smith; Charlie Mason, a greasy, greedy night club owner with a regular toilet habit; local...