{"product_id":"2026200008601-secondhand-billy-liar","title":"Billy Liar","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003eCondition: Good to fair. Paperback. Page Condition: Good - possible tanning. Markings: possible previous owner inscription. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA landmark of British comic fiction, Billy Liar chronicles the misadventures of Billy Fisher, a young undertaker's clerk in a northern English town who escapes the mundane realities of his life through elaborate fantasies and compulsive lies. Keith Waterhouse crafts a sharply observed portrait of a dreamer trapped between the suffocating conformity of post-war provincial England and his own grandiose imagination — where he reigns as ruler of a fictional country called Ambrosia. The novel balances laugh-out-loud comedy with a genuine undercurrent of pathos, capturing the restless yearning of youth with razor-sharp wit. First published in 1959, it became a defining text of the British New Wave, inspiring a celebrated stage adaptation, a 1963 film starring Tom Courtenay and Julie Christie, and a long-running television series. Waterhouse's voice is irreverent and pitch-perfect, presenting a character who is simultaneously infuriating and deeply sympathetic.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48956373106907,"sku":"2026200008601-SECONDHAND","price":10.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/03a51c94-4682-4842-90b3-08d9aee0fe03.png?v=1783500457","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026200008601-secondhand-billy-liar","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}