Lucky Lupin is a poignant yet light-hearted story of survival against the odds, based on Charlie Mortimer''s life with HIV/Aids during the early years (1984-1996), when there was neither treatment nor cure.

Using a combination of good luck, gallows humour, Fray Bentos pies and copious quantities of Solpadeine, Charlie survived not only the illness but the hysteria that accompanied the so-called ''gay plague''. Anyone infected became a social pariah; had the local launderette got word of his illness they wouldn''t have washed his sheets but burnt them.

Whilst taking full responsibility for the consequences of his behaviour - ''The fact is you don''t get AIDS from watching telly'' - Charlie initially took to the sofa and prepared for death, but, in time, he found the inner strength required to confront his fatal diagnosis, becoming, among other things, an antiques dealer and contemporary art collector.

With blistering and often hilarious candour Charlie also recounts his childhood where he developed a passion for cars, cultivated by his adventurous mother ''Nidnod'', his dizzying array of careers and somewhat curious domestic arrangements including the ''adoption'' of a bank robber for twelve years. He also confronts head on his experiences of coming to terms with confused sexuality, addiction, epilepsy and clinical depression before finding lasting contentment.


Praise for Dear Lupin:
''As well as being the funniest book I''ve read in ages, it''s also extremely touching. A delight then, on every front.'' The Spectator

''Very, very funny.'' Sunday Times

''Wry, trenchant, often extremely funny, but also charmingly forbearing and forgiving.'' Country Life